Lucky
by o Mischief Managed
Summary: (Eventual) Collection of 50 Natsu/Lucy one-shots - because I'm completely insane! "When did we stop being friends?" / "When I fell in love with you." Awwww, here it goes!
1. Stay

Whee! Hi everybody! Super pumped this just got approved over at the fanfic50 LJ comm, so here we are at last! (been planning this for quite some time now, haha)

So (since I'm completely nuts and don't have enough to be doing in my little spare time), I've really been wanting to do a fanfic50 challenge for a while, and I'm super excited to finally be getting this going. I love writing to prompts or songs or other such things that kick my muses into gear, so this was an excellent challenge for me to take on. Hope it turns out as well as I'm envisioning!

I know what you're thinking: 50 individual one-shots about Natsu and Lucy? I know, I know, and I'm gonna try my hardest not to be redundant or repetetive and add some spice in here and there. I know some of the prompts will give me a hard time, but I really love this pairing and I'm confident that I can pull it off. So stick with me on this roller coaster, ya hear? haha. I'll also try and add as many genres as I can, just to keep this series alive!

Also, in case you were wondering, I have 3 written so far, the order of which I picked by pulling up a random number generator... Really. And ten was the first it gave me, so here's the result!

Oh, and I'll also be posting this on the fanfic50 comm on LJ, and keeping a record of my progress on my own LJ (I'm using prompt table #4, if you're familiar with the comm).

**Disclaimer: **Sadly, I don't own Fairy Tail... I wish I could call myself responsible for something this level of awesome, but alas, at present I cannot :( haha

Here we go!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#10 Stay<span>**

"Are you sure this is okay? I mean… I won't be in the way?"

Natsu shook his head, stretching his arms toward the sky. "Nah, 'course not. Besides, we kind of owe you from all the times we crashed with you, right Happy?"

"Aye!"

Lucy raised her eyebrows in a moderately impressed fashion. That was almost… thoughtful of him. Sure, she'd never asked for compensation when one of her friends allowed themselves into her home, but it was nice to know she wasn't being taken completely for granted, and that she could rely on their help in her times of need. Like that very week, for example, when her apartment building was undergoing some renovations due to an unfortunate plumbing fiasco which had resulted in the flooding of most of the ground floor, leaving her in need of a temporary home. And the cheaper, the better, in Lucy's opinion, hence her current location.

"Welcome home, Lucy!" Happy sang excitedly as they reached their destination. Lucy had visited Natsu and Happy's house once before, but they hadn't been present at the time. She had been less than enthralled with the place, as to this day she still wasn't sure she'd ever seen a bigger mess in her life. She'd tidied up the last time, and now as Natsu pulled the door open she found herself hoping with all her might that they had taken her initiative and at least attempted to keep the place in some semblance of order.

And of course, she was wrong. Inside, the small forest house was just as trashed—if not more so—that the first time she'd seen it almost a year ago. Lucy heaved a sigh and shook her head before following her friends inside, doing her best to step over the multitudes of clutter piled on the floor. "How do you stand this mess?" she asked incredulously, warily eyeing the assortment of unwashed dishes on the table near the overturned sofa.

Natsu looked at her and frowned. "What mess?" he asked seriously. _He's gotta be kidding… _Lucy wondered, her mouth hanging open.

"Never mind," she answered. She looked around for a place to drop her bags, but every corner of the room seemed so packed with junk she was certain her things would be swallowed up if she let them go. Natsu seemed to notice what she was doing, and made his way easily over toward the hammock hanging near the right wall. He shoved some things aside to clear a space, tossing them over his shoulder where they crashed against brothers across the room.

"You can sleep here," he said when he was finished, gesturing toward the hammock that was typically his bed. As she fought her way toward the now visible section of floor, he jumped over some clutter toward the overturned couch, before kicking even more junk aside and yanking the sofa into an upright position. "I'll sleep on this."

"Thanks," Lucy said as she finally set down her bags without the fear that she'd lose them. "I'm really not trying to get in the way, I just—"

"I told you, don't worry about it." Natsu grinned at her from across the room as Happy nodded in agreement, and she couldn't help but smile in appreciation.

They had already eaten dinner before arriving, so instead Lucy had Natsu explain some of the pictures and ads he had posted on the wall by the hammock. She'd remembered from her last visit the many things that he'd kept as souvenirs, and it was fun hearing his stories and his reasons for all the hoarding. Each item reminded him of a time with one or more friends that he held special, many of which Lucy had been present for and remembered as well. She was enjoying it so much that it was very late by the time she couldn't hide a yawn and Natsu decided it was time for bed. And when she turned away from the wall of memories, she was once again met with the sight of the untamable mess around her and her mood dampened.

As Happy curled up on a large pile of blankets near her feet, Lucy climbed awkwardly into the hammock, taking care to avoid the moldy-looking objects on the floor beneath it. _It's just four days,_ she assured herself. _I can do this._

"'Night, Lucy," she heard Natsu say from across the room as the only light went out. Judging by the light snoring originating from somewhere below her, Happy was already fast asleep.

She smiled. "'Night." _This isn't so bad, _she convinced herself. _At least not when my eyes are closed._ Just as she was drifting off to sleep, she felt a strange tickling sensation on her right forearm. She frowned and opened her eyes. It was too dark to see properly, so she brought her arm to her face to inspect it. To her surprise, sitting on her skin and staring back at her with beady eyes was the largest, ugliest cockroach she had ever seen.

She screamed and flung her arm out in front of her, tossing the bug into the air and causing her to twist so fast she turned the entire hammock over and fell onto the floor (thankfully missing whatever clutter rested beneath it).

"Lucy?" Natsu's voice sounded from the darkness. "You okay?"

Lucy rubbed her nose and let out a dissatisfied whine. She picked herself up off the floor and shook her right arm a few more times for good measure. "Maybe I'll just sleep outside tonight…" she grumbled, grabbing her sleeping bag and pillow and fighting toward the door.

"…Suit yourself," Natsu replied after a moment, though she noticed he sounded just a tiny bit worried. "It might get cold out there, though."

"I can handle it," she almost snapped. He fell silent, and she felt a momentary twinge of regret. It didn't last long, however, when she stubbed her toe particularly hard against what she was sure must have been a brick lying on the floor (which wouldn't surprise her in the slightest). As she opened the door and a stream of moonlight touched the room, Lucy glanced over her shoulder to find Natsu watching her through half-open eyes. She huffed and left the house.

Once outside, it didn't take her long to set up a makeshift bed against the grass, in which she hastily lied down in, pulling her sleeping bag up to her chin (he'd been right—it was a little chillier outside than she would have liked. But she reminded herself that a bit of cold was better than giant cockroaches, and suddenly it didn't seem so bad).

Lucy sighed again as she looked up at the starry night sky. "Maybe I should've ignored Mira's advice and bunked with Levy…" she couldn't help but wonder aloud. In truth, many of her friends had offered her a place to stay upon hearing her news of temporary homelessness. Makarov had even suggested she simply stay at the guild hall. She had almost decided to stay with Levy, when she made the mistake of talking to Mira about it. Ever the matchmaker, and one of the few people who knew of Lucy's more-than-friendly feelings for Natsu, Mira had urged her to take his invitation, saying it would be a great opportunity to get closer to him. It had sounded like a good idea at the time, but now she wasn't so sure. She supposed she could always tell Natsu it wasn't working out and spend the rest of her few homeless days elsewhere, but she also didn't want to risk insulting him, especially not after the hospitality he had… well, _tried_ to show her. Annoying as his messes may be, his heart was always in the right place. That was really what she loved about him, to be honest.

A little while later, as she was once again drifting off to sleep, she was awoken by a light rustling sound somewhere behind her. It was distant, but carried far in the silence of the cold night. A shiver ran through her body—a shiver she knew wasn't caused by the cold.

"It's alright," she whispered in an attempt to convince herself. "It's... just the wind. Yeah." She almost started to believe it, when the 'wind' was followed by a low growl that seemed to shake the ground on which she lay. Lucy yelped in surprise and fear and jumped out of her blanket and to her feet so fast she might as well have teleported. She froze for a moment, eyes darting back and forth into the darkness of the trees. "On second thought… Natsu's clutter doesn't sound so bad after all! Heh heh…" So she gathered her things and crept back inside.

She meant to stay silent in case Natsu had fallen asleep, but in her frightened haste she closed the door a little harder than she'd planned, effectively shutting out the wind and cold but causing an audible _click_ to reverberate around the quiet room.

"Lucy?" Natsu's asked in a hushed, slightly slurred voice. She realized he'd been asleep after all, and that she must have woken him up. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she saw him pull himself into a sitting position on the couch across the room. Happy was still fast asleep in his little nest of blankets.

"I'm sorry," Lucy whispered back, her voice shaking. "I didn't mean to wake you."

"Did something happen?" he asked, sounding instantly more alert and only causing her to feel guiltier. "Are you okay?"

"No, I'm fine," she assured him quickly. "I just… You were right. It's a bit cold outside." She decided not to tell him the whole truth. After all, she was probably just overreacting. They were in the middle of a forest, after all. Of course there'd be wild animals around. She felt a little silly after this revelation, and hoped he didn't notice.

He was quiet for a minute, his gaze making her increasingly uncomfortable. She hefted her blanket and was about to head back for the likely-bug-infested hammock when he waved his arm in a gesture for her to join him on the couch. She shook her head, suddenly nervous. "I don't want to keep you up," she whispered, some part of her regretting the lie. But he just shook his head and waved her over again, pulling back his blanket to make room for her. This time, she hesitated only a second before crawling across the piles of junk and dropping down next to him on the soft cushion. A brief vision of a swarm of cockroaches leaping at her from the inside of the sofa crossed her mind, but she shook it away determinedly as he tossed the end of the blanket over her shaking legs.

He leaned back against the back of the sofa and closed his eyes. "I warned you about the cold, you know."

Lucy smiled almost sheepishly. "I know. I should've listened to you. I'm sorr—" She broke off as he draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer to him. Her heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to relax and leaned her head against his chest, curling her legs up under the blanket and away from the cold floor.

"Might not be much difference, but it's at least a little warmer in here," Natsu said quietly, and Lucy could tell he was already falling back to sleep. She smiled, and was thankful that the darkness hid the light blush on her face as the heat from his body warmed her cold skin.

"No, it's much warmer," she whispered so quietly she didn't know if he'd heard, that is if he wasn't asleep already.

As she finally let sleep take her as well, she decided that maybe Mira had been right after all.

* * *

><p>Dig it! One down! Only... 49 to go *hangs head* hahaha. Well I'm still rarin' to go as of right now, so review for me and raise my fighting spirit even higher!<p>

Wait. ...I just realized this is my 20th story here on ff-net! GO ME! I must celebrate somehow... haha.

See ya soon, I'm sure!

-oMM


	2. Butterfly

Back already? Alrighty! Thanks to all my awesome reviewers, both signed and unsigned; it's because of all the great response I got that I decided to go ahead and stick this one up today! (usually I have a 48-hrs-or-3-reviews (whichever comes first) policy when it comes to updating, but you guys beat that aside before I even got a chance to update! Thanks bunches!)

This one takes place a bit in the future, but that's obvious after like the first 3 lines, haha. Here we go!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#37 Butterfly<span>**

"Alright, kids, time for bed."

"Awwwww!" both twins whined in unison, a reaction Lucy had gotten used to in their five years of life.

"But Mama, it's still early! We wanna stay 'til Daddy gets home!"

Lucy smiled and placed a hand on the small girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry, Layla. You can see your dad in the morning, okay? But only if you go to sleep." Layla looked down as if disappointed, but not a second later she raised her head and smiled.

"Okay," the little girl agreed, before twirling around and skipping down the hall, her shoulder-length strawberry-blonde hair swaying lightly across her back.

"Well I'm staying up to wait for Daddy!" the other twin pouted, stomping his foot on the carpeted floor. He crossed his little arms in front of him and stuck out his bottom lip, glaring at the floor. The look reminded Lucy so much of the boy's father that she almost laughed out loud. Instead she knelt down and eyed her son carefully.

"Luke," she began calmly, "you don't have to worry. I promise he'll be home soon. You can wake him up in the morning just like you always do, okay?" Any time she or their father went away on a mission, Luke and Layla would insist on staying up until their missing parent would return. For children, they seemed to have a very keen sense of danger, even though they were never told exactly what was going on. It made Lucy smile to know that the twins cared for them so much, but that night it really was getting quite late, and they needed to get to sleep. They were still quite young, after all.

Luke eyed his mother for a moment before finally giving in and allowing himself to be led off to their bedroom.

"Tell us a story?" Layla asked with wide, pleading eyes once they were snuggled in their bed.

"A story?" Lucy repeated. "What kind of story?"

"One of your stories!" Luke answered as his sister nodded in agreement. Lucy smiled. The twins always did love the stories she'd written.

"Alright, let's see…" She glanced at the ceiling and thought for a moment, searching for a story she'd yet to tell them. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful butterfly," she began in a soft voice. "She lived in a quiet wood with many other butterflies, all of whom were just as regal and beautiful as she was. She was happy there for a while, but eventually… she became sad. She longed to escape her tiny wood and spread her wings further than they'd ever been before. So one day, she left her home, in search of a better place, one where she belonged." Lucy paused a moment to examine the patient looks on her children's faces, their eyes wide and gleaming. She smiled inwardly before continuing her story.

"But the world the butterfly found was not the world she'd pictured. There were many strange, frightening things in it that she hadn't been ready for. The wind tore at her wings, the rough ground made comfort difficult, and all kinds of evil beasts tried to harm her. She realized how small and fragile she was. She even thought of escaping back to her wood and her own kind, where she knew she would be sheltered but safe. If it meant facing all that danger, learning of how breakable and weak she truly was, she didn't think she was ready to live in the world. But then one day, the butterfly met a dragon."

"A dragon?" Luke repeated in a breathy voice, his dark brown eyes widening.

"Was she afraid?" Layla asked, looking almost scared herself.

Lucy chuckled at their enthusiasm. "She was at first. The dragon was much stronger and more powerful than she was. But in truth, they didn't meet by chance." The children listened quietly and attentively as Lucy continued her story. "You see, the butterfly had been captured by an evil hunter. He wanted to add her to his collection of beautiful things. The butterfly was very afraid, and she thought that she was done for. But then, a dragon swooped in from the sky and defeated the hunter, rescuing the butterfly and her fellow prisoners."

"The dragon saved her?" Layla whispered, a small smile on her face.

"Yes," Lucy answered. "And from that day, they became friends. The dragon was fierce and strong, feared by many throughout the land. And he protected the butterfly, so no one could ever harm her again. For years to come, never did he leave her side. He watched over her for the rest of their lives, so that wherever one of them went, you could expect to see the other there with them, the best of friends."

Luke laughed. "That's a funny sight, a dragon and a butterfly as friends."

Lucy smiled. "It is, isn't it? But they didn't mind. They taught each other many things. He taught her to be strong, to protect herself and others in ways she had never thought possible. And she taught him to be gentle, that force was not always the best answer. They were the perfect pair, the dragon and the butterfly. It was like destiny that they met and became friends."

"Wow…" Layla sighed, dreamy-eyed. "What a nice story…"

"Did you write that story, Mama?" Luke asked almost skeptically.

"Of course I did," Lucy answered, ruffling his blonde hair and making him giggle. "And it's a true story, too. That butterfly is a close, personal friend of mine."

"True story? Yeah, right," he teased with a laugh. Lucy smiled, but didn't elaborate further.

"Alright, _now_ it's bedtime, you two." She tucked them in and turned for the door.

"'Night, Mama!" they both called.

"Good night," she replied, turning off the light and closing the door.

"I've never heard that one before."

Lucy jumped violently at the sudden, unexpected voice in the dark hallway, but relaxed as two strong, familiar arms encircled her from behind.

"Shh!" she reprimanded, twisting in Natsu's grip to look at him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him, before saying, "I didn't know you were home. The twins wanted to see you."

"I just got back," he whispered, releasing her and leading the way back toward the living room. "I didn't want to interrupt the story. It was good, I especially liked the part where the dragon 'swooped in' and saved the butterfly."

Lucy punched him in the arm and laughed, before dropping herself onto the sofa. "I told them it was a true story, but they didn't believe me."

"That's because you left out the best part," Natsu insisted, sitting down next to her. She looked at him inquisitively, and he answered, "Them."

Lucy raised her eyebrows, a small smile turning the corners of her mouth. "You're right," she agreed. "Silly of me." As he grinned in agreement, she leaned forward and kissed him gently, as if to thank him for everything the story had made her remember, and—as he'd said—for the best part she'd forgotten. Lost in memories full of emotion, she twisted her arms around his neck and pulled his body closer, not realizing how much she'd missed him until right then.

"Careful," he pulled back and warned after a moment. She raised an eyebrow and he gave her a sly grin. "Don't wanna break those fragile wings of yours."

"Ha, ha," she said sarcastically, before shoving him onto his back on the couch and pinning him down, using another well-timed kiss to shut him up.

* * *

><p>This one makes me smile :D Mostly because I have this adorable picture in my head of these two little kids (yes, one of whom is named after Lucy's mother XD Creativity? Yeah, maybe not, haha), and I think Lucy and Natsu would make great parents, haha :D (And don't think you've seen the last of little Luke and Layla! I just *might* be bringing them back in more of these!)<p>

Still have a couple logged away that I'm holding onto... Review for me and maybe I'll update sooner again? Worth a shot, right? haha

-oMM


	3. Smoke

I'M BAAAA-AAAACK! Thanks again to all my awesome reviewers! This one was supposed to be short from the way I originally had planned, but for some reason I went a bit further into it than I intended XD haha. I like it though! It's a bit more serious than the first two, but not in an unhappy way :D

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#41 Smoke<span>**

_No… He can't. I won't let him._

Lucy shook her head angrily as she sped through Magnolia, eyes peeled for a certain someone she hoped wouldn't be too far ahead of her. Her hair was whipping back and forth, momentarily obscuring her vision every few seconds, and her already-aching feet were adamantly protesting the beating the hard, stone streets were giving them. But she didn't care. She had to get to him, before it was too late.

People gave her strange looks as she passed them at top speed. Some waved or shouted a greeting, but all gestures fell on deaf ears as Lucy continued her sprint through the crowded, twilit town, Gray's earlier words being the only ones she could hear.

"_He just left, Lucy. Said he had some things to take care of on his own, that he'd be gone a while. I sort of… thought you knew."_

Some part of Lucy's conscious mind was irritated that her best friend and partner _hadn't_ discussed with her his intentions (which she knew were obvious enough, whether Gray had outright told her or not). That also was a driving force in her need to find him and make him explain. _No, not just explain,_ she corrected herself. She would make him rethink this stupid decision.

Just as she reached the edge of the city and was about to give up hope, she saw him. He was now maybe twenty yards away from her, walking alone on the dusty road just outside the borders of Magnolia. She wasn't too late.

"Natsu!" Lucy called as loudly as she could without stopping her feet, considerably out of breath due to her mad dash from the guild hall. Natsu halted abruptly and stood still for a moment, before slowly turning around to face her. He didn't say anything, only watched Lucy as she slowed to a jog and finally came to a halt in front of him, breathing heavily. He bore an expression she found difficult to read, which was saying something as she'd learned to discern his moods quite well after all their time together. There was definitely some surprise, but also something that looked suspiciously like sadness, mixed with a strange, desperate intensity. It made Lucy slightly self-conscious to be watched in such a way.

After a few seconds he shook his head and blinked, and the expression was gone. He glared at Lucy and said, "What are you running all this way for?"

She returned his scowl and placed her hands on her hips. "What do you think you're doing?" she demanded, surprised at the fierceness in her own voice.

His expression faltered a bit, and she was pleased to see she could still get through to him. "…I'm tired of sitting around here," he explained, his voice softer than before. "You know I have to find him." So she'd been right after all. This _was_ about Igneel. It was _always_ about Igneel. And that made her angrier than anything.

"You just don't get it, do you?" Lucy continued, raising her voice in contrast to his. "You think that means you have to leave? You think you have to abandon us all here and go off on your own? What if something happens to you, huh? Who's gonna be there to bail you out of trouble?"

Natsu took a step away from her, his jaw tightening and his eyebrows creasing in uncertainty. "I can manage just fine on my own," he insisted, and though Lucy didn't want to admit it, some part of her knew he was right. But that wasn't the point, and that wasn't why she'd come after him.

"I know you can…" she said quietly, her voice so different from before that it surprised even her. She looked down and added, "But I can't."

He frowned and tilted his head to the side. "What?"

She bit her lip, trying to find the right words. "You just… can't go."

"Why?"

_Why?_ Lucy repeated the question to herself. If it wasn't for his sake, then why _did_ she want him to abandon this decision? The simplest, most obvious answer was a selfish one—_she_ didn't want to be separated from him. That, however, was a difficult thing to say to someone.

When she remained silent, Natsu shook his head. He stepped forward and placed a hand on Lucy's shoulder, making her breath catch in her throat. It felt too much like a gesture of goodbye. "Look," he began gently, "you guys… you'll be alright without me, okay?" There was a hint of constraint in his voice, as if the words he was saying weren't the ones he wanted to convey. He opened his mouth again to speak, but seemed to change his mind and closed it again with a jerk of his head. He squeezed her shoulder and offered a small half-smile, before releasing her and turning around. He hefted the bag slung on his shoulder and started walking away from her in silence.

_No… We won't, _she realized. Or more specifically, _I won't._ Her mind was made up. She wouldn't let herself lose him. Not when she knew there was something she could do about it—something she _wanted_ to do about it.

Before she could lose her nerve, Lucy jerked her head up and darted forward. She grabbed Natsu's arm with both hands and spun him around to face her. She caught a brief glimpse of the surprised and wary expression on his face before she threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into the tightest embrace her tired body could muster. His arms remained at his sides as he said apprehensively, "Lucy…" But he didn't shake her off, so she didn't let go. She held on, clearing her muddled brain and focusing solely on the feel of his body against hers. She heard his breath hitch in his throat, like he wanted to say something but couldn't get it out. They stood there like that for a minute, before suddenly Lucy felt tears well in her eyes, threatening to fall and pour all her emotions out with them. This feeling… she knew now it was too precious to her to let go.

"You're wrong," she whispered, choking back an unbidden sob. She loosened her grip and backed up just enough to look him in the eye, not letting go for fear of losing him. She studied his face, now only inches from her own. No longer was he hiding behind the glare he'd shown her earlier. Now she could clearly see a mixture of pain, sadness, confusion, and even a small glimmer of what she was sure might have been _hope_.

When his eyebrows raised a fraction of an inch in inquisition of her vague statement, his dark eyes shining with a curious intensity, she elaborated, "I'll never be alright without you." Just as the tears in her eyes finally spilled over, she tilted her chin up and sealed the small space between her and him, gently touching her lips against his.

The gesture was tentative at first, both of them being in particularly vulnerable states, but when Natsu finally hung his arms around Lucy's waist, she allowed herself to tighten her grip on his neck, leaning into the kiss and pouring into it all the emotion that had been welling up inside her since she'd heard of his sudden flight. All the fear, surprise, sadness, guilt, worry, hope, desire, and love that had hitherto formed nothing but a giant, befuddled mass of confused thoughts circling around in her head like a twister, all of it came rushing to the surface in one fluid and unstoppable motion, making the tears pour faster from her eyes and causing her to press herself as tightly as she could against the person in her arms, reveling in his presence and its being the only thing she needed to know. Suddenly, nothing else mattered. Just her and him. The feel of his arms on her lower back, the familiar smell of his hair and clothing, the sound of his racing heartbeat, the taste of the heat—the intense, burning _heat_—inside his mouth, scorching her tongue like fire and bringing more stinging water to her eyes. But despite that small discomfort, she couldn't bring herself to pull away, to break from the intoxicating feeling of closeness and contentment that came from their contact.

Finally, both due to the screaming in her lungs and the numbing burns on her lips and tongue, Lucy loosened her tight grip on Natsu's shoulders and allowed air to pass between them again, resting with her face still only inches from his. She let out a long, shaky breath, and was surprised to see a thin but defined ring of smoke emerge from between her lips. She giggled at the sight. _Guess that's what I get for kissing a guy who eats and breathes fire on a daily basis,_ she thought wryly.

Natsu grinned and cocked an eyebrow at the fading smoke ring. "That's a new trick," he said, breathing slightly heavily.

Lucy allowed a small, tentative smile to touch her face. "Yeah, but it needs a bit more practice," she replied evasively. "Too bad my teacher's planning on leaving town…?" She let the end of her sentence hang in the air, as if seeking confirmation. A small part of her was afraid of the answer, but a bigger part was confident in it.

Natsu studied her for a minute, raising a hand and brushing the fallen tears from her face. "I guess I can stick around for a little longer."

Lucy raised an eyebrow. "A little longer?"

He shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck, the corners of his mouth twitching in a small smile. "Alright, fine. You win." He pulled her into another tight hug, and she smiled happily as his warm breath touched her neck. "I'm not going anywhere."

"That's all I wanted to hear."

* * *

><p>Huzzah! Three down! This one's sort of pointless, I just can't help but love the idea of Lucy breathing smoke rings XD hahaha. As a side, most of these will probably be told from Lucy's head, just because I can more easily identify with her than with Natsu (proooobably because she's the same gender as me? haha). Just a random heads up :D Hope that's okay with everyone!<p>

We're almost through my backlog now, but I'm still trying to keep up working on these, so review for me and encourage me to keep it up! Before my steam runs out, haha XD

-oMM


	4. Spooky

Thanks once more to all my fabulous reviewers! (and those more silent readers, I appreciate you too of course! haha)

I originally wasn't gonna post one tonight since I'm kind of busy, but I'm hanging at a friend's house tomorrow after work (going out for another friend's birthday! haha), so I definitely won't be able to post tomorrow. So instead I just decided to throw this one up tonight since I already had it written :D This one's really long, too, so hopefully it'll tide you over at least till Saturday, haha.

* * *

><p><strong><span>#43 Spooky<span>**

"Ah—ah—ah—_choo!_"

It was official. Lucy _hated_ being sick. Nothing good ever came from it, really. She was forced to stay cooped up at home all day and couldn't even have friends over to visit. Missions were unthinkable, meaning she missed out on a precious few days' worth of rent money. No matter how she willed it, her body seemed to refuse to want to move, forcing her to sit on her bed and stare forlornly at the book in her hands, or glance longingly out her window. Not to mention the fact that every few seconds the air around her would be broken by a sneeze or a cough, and the pile of used tissues at her feet was growing at an alarming rate.

All in all, she was quite miserable.

Lucy didn't get sick often, but when she did it hit her like a freight train, and all she could do was wait it out. Still, it meant for a few very long days at home.

"At least it's not bright and sunny outside…" she grumbled, watching the pounding rain slam against the window to her left. It would be even more difficult to keep herself inside if the weather had been better. This way, she knew she at least wasn't missing much.

She turned her attention back to the novel lying open in front of her. She was currently in the middle of her third horror book in a row, justifying that if she read something in which people were continually chased or killed she could at least revel in the fact that her life wasn't so bad after all. It was a feeble attempt at cheer, but it was all she could do at the time.

That is, until a loud crash of thunder took out the electricity.

Startled, Lucy froze as her bedside reading light went out and she was thrown into an inky darkness, all sounds ceasing save for the pouring rain outside. Suddenly her breathing sounded ten times louder than it had before, and she had to force herself to quiet down. She racked her brain to remember if she'd had a flashlight or any candles, and decided that if she did, they would be in the kitchen, which meant that she would have to move from her semi-comfortable spot on her bed. Of course.

She took a deep breath (and sneezed twice in the process), before setting down her book, pulling back the blankets, and forcing herself to her feet. Her head spun vaguely at first, but the sensation soon subsided. She stumbled through the darkness and out into the hall, feeling her way toward her kitchen. Her steps creaked quite loudly in the silence, and she mentally cursed herself for reading all those spooky stories that day, as they now gave her a strange sense of foreboding as she walked down the familiar hallway. She tried to tell herself there was obviously nothing to be afraid of, but that didn't change the fact that she was sick and alone in a dark, quiet, house with no electricity or means of communication other than her hoarse voice. Anyone would be a little skittish, right?

Before long she reached what she knew was the kitchen, as the room widened and there were no windows. She crept toward the nearest drawer and rummaged through it, cringing at the seemingly deafening sounds that resulted. When the first drawer housed no candles, she closed it and reached for the second. She stopped dead, however, when she thought she heard a distant tapping sound coming from the living room behind her.

Lucy stayed stock-still and listened as the tapping sounded again. After a moment, she realized it was originating from the front door. Someone must have been knocking. She sighed in relief, but stopped and wondered, _Who would be here in the middle of this storm? _Surely everyone else would be safe in their houses, right? And her friends all knew how sick she was and that she didn't want to be disturbed.

Curious but wary, she crept into the living room as the mysterious guest knocked again. It was a moment before she made it to the door, attempting to fight both illness and darkness simultaneously and having some difficulty. She held her breath and pulled open the door—only to find no one on the other side.

Lucy stared at the empty doorstep for a moment, but was forced to slam the door shut again almost immediately to avoid letting in too much rain. _But… I could've sworn there was someone…_

Puzzled and slightly afraid, she turned to head back to the kitchen, when she noticed out of the corner of her eye a dark shadow creep by her window. She jumped a mile high and backed into the wall behind her as the shadow—which was decidedly human-shaped—stopped just outside the window, silhouetted against the rainy night. The shadow began to fiddle with the latch on the windowsill, and Lucy's eyes widened as she realized it was trying to open it.

She had the sudden urge to panic, and if she had been fully healthy she might have done just that. _Someone's trying to break in! _she thought frantically, searching for a method of action. Knowing she had no way of contacting anyone, and that there was little chance she'd find her keys in time, she instead hurried as quietly as she could into the kitchen and pulled the largest frying pan she owned from the cupboard below the stove. _This'll have to do…_

Making as little sound as possible, she crept back into the living room and crossed to the opposite wall, where she stood just to the left of the window and hid herself in shadow, waiting with her breath held, adrenaline rushing through her veins. The figure almost had it, and she had to be ready…

With a click, the window finally slid open and a shadowy form stepped through it and onto the floor. Lucy's muscles tensed as she waited a beat until both of its feet were on the floor and it stood upright. Then, with a feral cry, she swung the frying pan and slammed it with all her strength into the side of the person's head. The shout of pain and surprise that resulted was one she instantly recognized, and she gasped as the intruder lost his balance and crashed into the end table a yard or so in front of him.

"N-Natsu?" Lucy stuttered in shock, frying pan still poised and ready. A flash of lighting struck just outside, illuminating the room for a brief instant. It was enough, however, to confirm her suspicion, revealing her dragon slayer friend sitting on the ground in a heap amid the fallen end table and its contents, rubbing the back of his head with a pained expression.

"Lucy?" he said through clenched teeth once darkness had taken them again. "What was that for?"

She finally let the frying pan drop, feeling slightly embarrassed. "I thought you were a criminal!" she answered in a slightly shrill voice, shouting over the wind blowing in from the open window. "Ugh, this is why you shouldn't sneak into people's houses!"

"I wasn't _sneaking_," he retorted, climbing to his feet (or at least Lucy assumed he had, based on the sounds she heard). "I knocked on your door, but you didn't answer! I had to get in somehow!"

"Why?" she demanded. "What are you even doing here?"

"I was worried about you, alright? Jeez…" Lucy fell silent, whatever reply she'd been about to give dying in the air. He was… worried? "The whole city lost power. I knew you were here alone, and you were sick, so I just… wanted to check on you, okay?"

Alright, maybe she'd overreacted. Natsu was just looking out for her, like he always did. He just had a… different way of going about it.

The wind gusted and a shiver ran through Lucy's body, making her sneeze loudly. Before she could move, Natsu darted to the window, forcing it closed and causing an eerie silence to spread once more. He remained standing there, so Lucy could just make out his shape against the vague light from the window frame. Both of them were silent for a moment, until in unison they said, "I'm sorry."

Lucy bit her lip guiltily. "No, I was just being paranoid. I shouldn't have… attacked you like that."

Natsu chuckled almost understandingly. "I guess I probably _was_ a little suspicious…" he admitted. She smiled, then remembered he couldn't see her. After a brief second of hesitation, she stepped toward the window and wrapped her arms around his chest, hugging him tightly. He stiffened in slight surprise, but returned the embrace without question.

"I'm glad you came…" she whispered, realizing how true the statement was. She hadn't noticed how lonely she'd been all day, trapped in her house in the middle of a storm. And it had only worsened after the loss of her electricity. It was nice to feel something—some_one_ familiar, even if he was so drenched from head to toe that she felt her own clothes dampening as she held onto him.

After a moment of comfortable silence, Lucy backed up and shook the loose water from her hair. "I think I have some candles in the kitchen," she said. "Wanna help me find them?" She moved away from the window, but stumbled and lost her balance. Apparently, the adrenaline had finally faded, causing her illness to come rushing back and her body to become suddenly weak. Before she could fall more than a few inches, though, she felt a strong grip on her upper arm, bringing her back to her feet and holding her firmly in place. She blinked a few times to clear the momentary haziness from her mind, as the hand on her arm slid down to grasp her own hand tightly.

"Better be careful," Natsu said seriously, though she could tell from his voice he was smiling. "You're probably tired after all that activity." Lucy laughed lightly, before leading the way back across the room.

It didn't take them long to find the candles she'd been searching for, thanks to the temporary light given off from the orb of fire Natsu summoned around his left hand. They collected come plates to catch the wax and carried them back into the living room. Lucy set them on the table, and Natsu lit them with a flick of his finger. Immediately the room was cast in a dim glow, throwing long, dancing shadows about the walls and finally allowing them to see each other properly. Water still clung to every inch of Natsu's hair and clothing, making it look heavy, as though it were too big for him. He took a few steps toward the light, possibly to see her better, and she couldn't help but notice the way the flickering candlelight reflected off his damp skin, almost making it glow like fire. It might have been intimidating, if she didn't know him better. And if the rest of him didn't look so ridiculous.

Although, she was sure she probably didn't look much better, a fact made certain when Natsu cracked a grin as he looked her over. She giggled slightly, and before long they both burst into fits of laughter. In retrospect, the whole situation was rather funny, really. Unfortunately, the laughing served to aggravate her sore throat, forcing an unpleasant cough from her chest. Natsu's grin vanished, and he strode over and forced her to lie down on the sofa, despite her protestations that she was fine.

When she tried to lift her head from the pillow, he knelt beside the couch and leaned toward her, staring at her intently. She was so taken aback by his sudden intensity, and the closeness of his face to hers, that she froze under his gaze and found herself unable to look away. It was a little scary, she admitted. She felt like he was staring into her mind, into her soul, trying to figure out exactly what she was thinking. She felt like right then, she couldn't hide anything from him. But strangely enough, she found that she didn't want to.

And then just as suddenly, he blinked twice and stood up, releasing the mysterious hold he'd had on her. "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked, frowning in concern.

She smiled at his expression, one she didn't often see on his face. "I'll be fine," she answered. "I just need some rest after tonight."

He nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. "Guess I'll leave you alone, then." He turned and headed for the door, and Lucy felt a sudden and strange sensation, as if the lights had gone out again and she was left in that same frightening darkness as before. This time, she knew what she wanted to say. "Goodni—"

"Wait!" She hesitated as he stopped and turned around. Taking a deep breath, she asked quietly, "Will you… stay with me? Just for tonight, until the lights come on?"

Natsu studied her a moment, but finally smiled. "I dunno, I don't wanna catch your cold…" he joked. She laughed and shot him a mock glare, before he shook his head and answered seriously, "Of course I'll stay." As he made his way back toward the couch, he yanked off his damp vest and scarf, piling them on the floor. He shook the remaining water from his messy hair, then dropped onto the opposite end of the couch and stretched out on his side. "I'm right here if you need anything," he said, closing his eyes.

Lucy smiled gratefully, resting her head back on her own pillow. Glancing around the room, she watched the shadows flicker across the walls and once again was struck with an inexplicable eerie feeling. Maybe it was her illness affecting her nerves and making her jumpy, but whatever the cause it made her very uneasy. Then a random and almost crazy urge struck her, and before her rational mind could talk her sick body out of it, she pulled herself upright and crawled across the sofa toward where Natsu was lying. He opened his eyes at the disturbance and was about to get up, when she dropped herself right next to him and leaned her back against his chest, settling in as close to him as she could. She felt him shift to give her more room, before carefully and tentatively draping his arm around her stomach to keep her from sliding off the cushions and onto the floor.

Neither of them said anything, which Lucy was grateful for (she knew that if her mind hadn't been clouded by illness and fatigue, she would have been extremely embarrassed at even the thought of doing what she'd done, but she told herself that that night was a special circumstance). Again her eyes began to wander the room, but at the same time she heard Natsu's steady heartbeat and felt his slow breath hot on the back of her neck, and this time when she observed the moving shadows she didn't feel the same fear as before. This time she felt safe, she felt protected, because she wasn't alone. And she realized that no matter how scary she thought anything could be, as long as Natsu was with her, she could face it brave and strong.

…Just as long as she didn't knock him out with a frying pan first.

* * *

><p>Hee hee, I actually like this one. It's more... realistic, maybe? I dunno, it's hard to explain, haha. Longest one so far, but probably not the longest to come. I have an uncontrollable tendency to write super long one-shots... (once I had one that was over 20,000 words. No lie. It was 40 pages in Word.)<p>

Till next time! (Remember: More reviews=faster updates! haha)

-oMM


	5. Solution

Hi everybody! Thanks again to all my wonderful reviewers and silent readers! It's been a week since my last update, so I've got a nice long one for you all this time. I also really love this one, just so you know. Favorite so far, probably :D (thought I didn't edit/proofread this one after writing it, so there may be typos or mistakes... Let me know if you find one and I'll fix it, kay?)

Enjoy! (I got to write Erza this time! Woo-hoo! haha)

* * *

><p><strong><span>#23 Solution<span>**

"Come on, Lucy! What are you waiting for?"

Lucy looked up to see Levy waving at her from a few feet away, standing just at the edge of the water. Lucy shook her head and stretched her legs out in the sand. "No, you go ahead!" she called back. "I… just ate!"

Levy eyed her for a brief second, then shrugged, replying, "Suit yourself. But don't forget you promised to help us beat the boys at volleyball later!" She offered one more friendly smile and wave before turning and racing into the ocean, Jet and Droy barely three steps behind her.

Lucy allowed herself a small smile as she sat on the warm sand, watching her friends' antics all along the beach. She'd been looking forward to this trip for quite some time, but now that she was here she couldn't concentrate on having fun like she'd hoped she could. Her mind had been troubling her with busy thoughts a lot more often lately, and as much as she'd been thinking the sun and sand would help to clear her confused head, it seemed like she wouldn't be getting her wish.

"Nothing like a day at the beach, is there?"

Lucy raised her head again to find Erza standing beside her, sticking the end of her surfboard in the sand (Erza had been, to Lucy's slight surprise, even more excited about this vacation than she had. By now, Lucy had realized that the reason for that meant more extravagant showing off of the brilliant mage's various and many skills, whether Erza herself viewed it as such or not). "Yeah," Lucy replied noncommittally as Erza dropped down on the sand next to her, stretching out her long legs and tossing her damp hair over her shoulder.

They were quiet for a few minutes, before a crazy (so crazy she wondered why she'd even thought of it at all) idea came to her. She turned to Erza slowly and asked carefully, "Erza… Can ask your advice about something?"

Lucy's apprehension grew the second she noticed the hungry gleam in her friend's eyes at those words—and even more when Erza proceeded to scoot closer to her and toss an arm around her shoulders.

"Oh, Lucy," she said with a tone that was clearly supposed to be motherly, but in reality sounded more like she were speaking to a particularly large fish she wanted to roast over a fire. "You can ask me anything."

_Well, no turning back now…_ Lucy thought bitterly, taking a deep breath. "It's about… this… guy…" she admitted through gritted teeth, bracing herself.

Erza's body stiffened, the light in her eyes glinting brighter. Lucy knew Erza reveled in 'helping' others, especially other girls who needed advice on 'girl stuff.' _Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…_

"I thought so," Erza said matter-of-factly, nodding her head in a manner that made Lucy sure that had not been what she'd thought at all. "You need advice with love? Well then it's a good thing you came to me," she insisted. "So who's the lucky guy? Someone in our guild?"

Lucy hesitated before nodding slowly.

"Well obviously you should tell him how you feel," Erza went on when Lucy remained silent. "Men like women who are strong and assert their position." She raised her chin slightly as though in an unconscious attempt to make herself look more intimidating—it worked. "Don't let yourself get pushed around or trampled on, especially by a man." She nodded again, and Lucy fought the urge to smack her forehead. _Maybe that works for you…_

"I don't know…" she settled for saying instead.

Erza looked thoughtful for a moment, before her eyes snapped back to meet Lucy's, and this time Lucy could almost see her shift into psychiatrist mode. "Well, what's he like?" she asked in a business-like tone. "We'll start with that."

Not liking the direction this was going but feeling as though she might as well humor her friend for a while, Lucy glanced out toward the water at her fellow guild members, among them the very person she was trying to describe. "Well, he's… sort of… _loud._" The word was out of Lucy's mouth before her brain had fully registered it. She felt sort of bad that apparently that was how she though of him, but the surprised look on Erza's face was enough to shake that from her mind. Instead she continued. "He likes to start fights, and he usually wins. He's really strong and powerful, and he can come off as sort of… scary at times. But he's also really caring and protective. When I first met him, our relationship started off kind of… different, but he sort of grew on me. A lot." She looked down at her hands, wondering, _Is all that really how I see him?_ It was true she'd been thinking about him a lot in recent weeks, maybe it wasn't so bad to get all her thoughts and feelings out into the open. "And he has a really strange appetite," she added as an afterthought.

When Lucy glanced over at Erza once more, she was slightly taken aback to find an almost evil smirk on the older girl's face, telling her she knew exactly whom she was talking about. "D-Don't tell anyone, okay?" Lucy demanded anxiously, waving her arms back and forth.

"Don't worry, Lucy," Erza assured her, once again pulling her into a one-armed hug and—Lucy could have sworn—slightly bruising the blonde's shoulder. "You can always count on me. Just leave it to me." Confused, Lucy was about to ask exactly _what_ she was 'leaving to her', when Erza suddenly leapt to her feet and stretched her arms. "Well, all this sitting and talking has made my legs a bit stiff. Back to the water!" With that, she hefted her surfboard and charged across the beach, leaving Lucy speechless in the sand.

_What have I done?_ she wondered with a groan.

-0-0-0-0-0-

All that day, Lucy was much more nervous and jittery than she should have been during a beach vacation—all due to Erza's mysterious assurance that morning. She came into contact with the object of their discussion numerous times, but each time he acted completely normal (well, normal for him, anyway), leading Lucy to believe Erza had not yet done whatever it was she was planning to do. Tired of waiting and growing extremely anxious by nightfall, Lucy finally approached Erza in the lodge of the house they were all staying in that evening.

"Alright, what's going on?" Lucy demanded in a slight whisper, her eyes darting toward a nearby table where he was sitting with a small group of other guild members. "What are you—?"

"I told you to leave it to me, didn't I?" Erza asked, frustrating Lucy by not following her lead in keeping their voices low. She downed her drink and stood, placing a hand on Lucy's shoulder. "Don't worry, I talked to him for you."

The blood drained from Lucy's face as she took in those words. "Y-You—_what?_"

"I told him about your feelings, and he wants to speak with you."

Lucy couldn't speak. She couldn't even think. Erza had… _what_?

Erza smiled and stepped aside, and Lucy's already over-worked brain was further surprised and confused to see Gajeel striding toward them. He and Erza exchanged a brief glance, before he met Lucy's eyes, a slightly awkward expression on his face. _What's going on?_ Lucy wondered, staring at him blankly. Why would she bring him into this?

"Lucy…" he said in his gruff voice, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm flattered that you feel this way, but well… I've sort of already got someone—"

Lucy's eyes widened as she realized what must have happened. She ignored the rest of his sentence and turned to Erza in a shocked fury, exclaiming, "You thought I meant _Gajeel?_"

A few other guild members had noticed the event going on and had turned to watch in interest, but Lucy didn't register their presence in her anger and embarrassment. Erza raised her eyebrows slightly and tilted her head to the side, saying, "Didn't you?"

"No!" Lucy almost screamed, now gaining the attention of the entire rest of the room and still not noticing them in return. Something told her she should calm down and be careful, but unfortunately not before she could dig herself an even deeper hole by shouting, "I'm in love with _Natsu_, you idiot!"

As soon as the words left Lucy's lips, the room became deadly silent. And only then did she finally become aware of her surroundings. Gajeel had taken a step away from her almost fearfully, looking sort of embarrassed himself. Everyone appeared as though in suspended animation, frozen in the act of whatever they'd been doing seconds before. More than one person was stopped in the middle of raising food to their mouths, several more paused in mid-conversation. Mirajane had a hand over her mouth as though covering a gasp. Juvia was clutching both hands over her heart and had an expression on her face like she was watching a lost puppy wagging its tail on her doorstep. Gray was almost smirking at Lucy, his eyebrows raised so high they were hidden by his scruffy, black hair. Levy's eyes were wide as she looked continuously back and forth between Lucy and Natsu—who, to Lucy's further embarrassment, was staring at her with what must have been the blankest expression she'd ever seen on his face. _Oh no…_ Lucy thought frantically. _What did I just do?_

Erza blinked innocently as Lucy glanced back at her in shock. She smirked almost knowingly, and rather than react at her being called an idiot, she said lightly, "Oh. My mistake."

"I… You… But…" Lucy muttered incoherently, now unable to think clearly for the millionth time that day. She chanced another furtive glance around the room as her friends seemed to come back to life, almost all of them breaking into grins. Some whispered to their neighbors, some outright whooped and cheered. Lucy saw Gray laugh and punch Natsu in the arm. Natsu didn't respond his usual way, however, and instead blinked twice and frowned as though in thought, his mouth forming soundless words. Lucy felt her stomach drop in dread, and before anyone could approach her she turned and ran from the lodge. She heard several people call her name, but she didn't listen to any of them.

Once outside, Lucy strode across the deck and stopped on its opposite end, resting her elbows on the railing and leaning into it lazily. She dropped her head and groaned, mentally scolding herself for losing her cool so badly. This certainly had _not_ been how she'd wanted Natsu to find out how she really felt about him.

As Lucy calmed her shaking limbs and took a few deep, cleansing breaths, she couldn't help but feel her worry slightly ebb away. She supposed it didn't really matter if Natsu felt the same way for her or not. He was her friend, and she knew him pretty well after all this time. There was no way he'd hate her for something like this. In reality, he would probably go along as they'd been, like nothing had happened. Then eventually the rest of the guild would follow their lead and just let the whole thing go. It would all work out. Sure.

_So what am I standing out here for?_ Lucy asked herself. Though more hindrance than help, Erza had been right about one thing: she couldn't let herself appear weak. Fairy Tail wizards were tough. They could get through anything, right? So how was this any different?

A feeling of resignation rushing through her, Lucy spun around and was about to walk back toward the door when it suddenly opened, spilling light onto the moonlit deck. Lucy felt her breath catch in her throat and her resolve wane a bit as Natsu stepped through the door, snapping it shut behind him and stepping slowly across the wooden floor.

He was quiet for a minute, watching her while his eyes adjusted to the dim lighting, before saying lamely, "Hi."

"H-Hi," Lucy replied, mentally smacking herself for choking on her own voice. This wasn't the time to be weak or afraid. This was the time to set things right. "Look, I'm sorry about before," she said, her voice finding its usual strength again. "I didn't mean—" She broke off. She couldn't say she didn't mean what she'd said, that would be a lie. Instead she settled for, "I didn't mean to surprise you like that."

He laughed briefly, shaking his head. "Yeah, it was a surprise alright…"

"Look," she began with a heavy sigh, "it's okay if you wanna just forget the whole thing, okay?"

He frowned, looking confused, and said, "Actually, I—"

"I mean, I don't want to force you or anything…" she continued, words spilling from her mouth before she could stop them. "I shouldn't have… done it like that."

Natsu shook his head again and a small, half-smile appeared on his face. "But I—"

"It's okay, you don't have to say anything." Lucy felt kind of rude for continuing to cut him off, but she didn't want to hear what she knew he was probably about to say. Instead she lowered her head and stalked past him toward the lodge door. "We'll just pretend it never happened."

As she passed him, she saw surprise flicker across his eyes. "Lucy—Hold on a second!"

"Meet you inside, okay?" She lowered her head even further to hide the pained expression she'd told herself she wouldn't show, and made to break into a run. But before she'd gotten very far she was halted by a sudden but tight grip on her upper arm (coincidentally, right over the bruise caused by Erza's 'hug' hours before). Before she could decide whether to resist or allow it, she was whirled around and pulled forward. She lost her balance in the process and stumbled right into Natsu, who grabbed her shoulders to steady her before leaning down and pressing his lips hard against hers.

Lucy was impressed with herself that she didn't fall over the rest of the way from shock. She had expected him to reject her, to tell her he was sorry and all that, then to forget the whole thing. But to kiss her? That was definitely… different from what she'd planned for. Rejection, she was ready for. So ready, in fact, that she hadn't even entertained the possibility of acceptance, that he might actually feel the same way she did. Even if she'd had full use of her mouth, she knew she would likely be speechless.

After a short second that felt to Lucy like a thousand, Natsu backed up and looked her in the eye, an almost sympathetic smirk on his face. "Just shut up, will ya?" he said with a small laugh. Lucy bit her tongue in slight embarrassment. She must have sounded so _stupid_ with all that talking a minute ago… "Like I said, you surprised me. But that was 'cause I never expected _you _to be the first one to spill the beans like that."

The small fire of hope in Lucy's chest blazed brighter as she puzzled out his meaning. "You mean… You…"

"Want me to say it?" he asked, shrugging. "Fine." He touched his forehead against hers and Lucy felt an unbidden smile stretch slowly across her face. "I love you, too."

Lucy let out the breath she didn't know she'd been holding in one swoop, a breathy laugh escaping with it. She took a step back and punched him in the arm as hard as she could. He cringed, though she knew it wouldn't have hurt him. "Why didn't you say so sooner? Instead of making me feel like a total idiot!" she teased.

Natsu raised an eyebrow at her. "In case you didn't notice, you didn't exactly give me much chance."

Laughing again, she shook her head and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly and replaying the entire silly scene in her head. "Thanks," she whispered.

"Don't thank me," he insisted.

"You're right," she realized, thinking back. "I should thank Erza." It _had_ been her who'd found this solution to Lucy's problem, after all.

Natsu pulled away to look her in the eye, confusion on his face. "Huh?"

Lucy only shook her head in amusement, before turning back for the door inside. "Come on."

"I guess I never did finish my dinner…"

Once inside, Natsu headed back to where he'd been seated before, where he was met with at least twelve people trying to find out what had happened. Lucy snuck over to Erza's otherwise vacant table and seated herself down. When Erza remained silent, Lucy said, "You tricked me."

Erza shrugged, though Lucy didn't miss the familiar gleam of mirth and amusement in her eyes.

"And you lied," Lucy continued. "You said you talked to Natsu, right? Since you really did know who I meant all along."

"I said I talked to _'him,'_" Erza corrected her, stirring the drink in front of her. "I didn't say _who_ I talked to."

Lucy chuckled at this reasoning, which was so very _Erza_ and for which she realized she was grateful for. "Still… How did you know it would work out? I mean… I could have just as easily been permanently mortified in front of the entire guild." Erza was a bit rough sometimes, but Lucy wanted to believe that even she wouldn't risk such a thing, meaning she had to know everything would be alright in the end.

Erza glanced across the room at Natsu, who was attempting to finish his meal while brushing off the people around him. "You forget I've known Natsu a lot longer than you have," she answered, a certain fondness in her gaze. "He's like a brother to me. And I'd bet my entire armory that he was aware of his feelings for you long before you accepted yours for him."

Lucy smiled and finally said, "Thanks, Erza." The older girl met her eyes and nodded curtly, a small grin on her face. After a moment, Lucy frowned and said, "There's still one thing I was wondering." When Erza raised her eyebrows in inquisition, Lucy continued, "Why Gajeel?"

Erza shrugged again, answering, "He fit your description."

Lucy glanced over at where Gajeel was sitting alone and thought back to how she'd described her mysterious crush earlier that afternoon. In reality, she slowly realized, the two _were_ quite similar. She laughed at the thought, before saying, "I think he's a bit more level-headed than Natsu, though…"

"Mm," Erza agreed through her drink. When she set it down, she turned to Lucy again, a serious look on her face. "Now, if he ever gives you any trouble, just come to me, alright? I'll give him a good whack across the head."

Lucy smiled to herself, knowing that this was no idle advice and that Erza would no doubt delight in being asked to do such. "I'll keep that in mind."

When Lucy's eyes once again traveled across the room, she noticed Natsu set down his glass in annoyance, before waving an arm in her direction and saying something she couldn't hear. Most of the group turned to look at her with eager expressions, and as one they began moving toward her like a giant parasite.

"Erza?" Lucy said, glaring at the throng of people she really didn't want to talk to. "Smack him for me."

Erza rose from the table and cracked her knuckles, a wicked grin on her face. "With pleasure."

* * *

><p>I decided I love writing Erza :D haha. Hopefully won't be too long till my next update! See y'all soon!<p>

-oMM


	6. Stone

Wow, been a while, hasn't it? Sorry this one's so short, but I had to write it in like, half an hour, which is a super short amount of time for me since chapters of my normal length usually take a few hours. Now off to dinner and then bed! hahaha

* * *

><p><strong><span>#2 Stone<span>**

"Geez, what have you got in here? Rocks?" Lucy complained as she dropped the heavy box on the floor, after which a dull _thunk_ echoed around the room.

"Well I needed _something_ to remember the forest by, didn't I?" Natsu replied, setting down the box he'd been carrying as Lucy gaped at him, taken aback. There weren't _really_ rocks in the box, were there? He'd been kidding, right? She glanced apprehensively at the box, truly not knowing what to believe, while Natsu laughed at her expression.

"Anyway," Lucy continued, deciding that she'd go through his stuff later and decide herself what could stay and what was… less necessary. "I know we've talked about it, but why decide to move in now? I thought you guys were happy at your old place."

Natsu shrugged. "It'll make things easier for after we're married."

He made for the open front door, but Lucy swung out an arm to stop him, saying with an accusatory glare, "What do you mean, 'after we're married'?" She tried to conceal it, but she couldn't lie there was tiny hint of hope in her voice, regardless of how sudden this discussion was. Sure, they'd been together a while, but the subject of marriage had never really come up.

"Like I said," he replied with a faint smile, eyes glinting.

Lucy hesitated a moment, before carefully asking, "Are you… proposing to me?"

Natsu took a step back and looked down thoughtfully, finally answering in a light voice, "I guess I am." Lucy stared at him with her mouth open, completely dumbfounded. When she didn't say anything, he continued in a very conversational tone, "So how 'bout it? Want to marry me?"

For a moment, she couldn't think of the right words to express what she was thinking. He'd caught her so completely off guard with this topic that it took her brain a moment longer to register what he was asking. Once it had, though, her answer was obvious. "Of course I want to marry you, you idiot!" she burst out with a breathy laugh, before throwing her arms around his shoulders and hugging him tightly. He laughed in return and hugged her back, lifting her in his arms and spinning her around in a circle before setting her back on the ground. Some part of her wanted to smack him for the abruptness of it all, but at the same time the whole thing was just so completely _Natsu_ that she had to laugh it off. His carefree nature was one of the many reasons she'd fallen in love with him, after all.

"But wait," Lucy began once they'd separated, "aren't you supposed to, you know, get down on one knee? Give me a ring? You know, the traditional way?" It wasn't like she'd ever expect Natsu to do anything the 'traditional way', but she couldn't help but tease him about it from time to time.

He wrinkled his nose as though he'd just eaten something disgusting. "Too old-fashioned," he replied, sticking out his tongue. Then with a grin he moved past her to the door, through which the rest of his luggage was waiting.

Lucy glanced down at the box that may or may not have contained rocks and allowed herself another small smile. Sure, she liked romantic things just as much as the next girl, but something told her that if Natsu had planned some big event in asking her to marry him, it wouldn't have been the same. It wouldn't have been him. And because of that, it wouldn't have been special. But this, this she would remember forever.

She was about to turn around when she felt Natsu wrap his arms around her from behind. "But you know," he said softly into her ear as he took her left hand in his. "Sometimes old-fashioned isn't so bad after all." He let go of her and she realized he'd slid a ring on her finger, embedded with a small, round diamond. Her eyes lit up in surprise and happiness, and she was about to speak when he added, "As long as you give it a little twist." He covered her hand with his once again and this time she felt heat radiate from it. She was worried he'd do something stupid like melt the metal or burn her skin, but when he moved his hand she gasped and held the ring up to get a closer look. A tiny fire had appeared inside the stone, making the diamond sparkle and shine in rainbow colors. It was small, but one of the most beautiful things she'd ever seen in all her twenty-one years of life.

"How did you…" she began breathlessly, mesmerized by the sight on her hand. Natsu let out a breathy laugh and kissed her cheek, before releasing her and heading back outside. No matter what happened or how well she knew him, it seemed he could always pull off something to surprise her.

Okay, so he was still the same carefree idiot that everyone in Fairy Tail knew and loved. But that didn't mean he couldn't be romantic every once in a while, whether anyone but Lucy knew it or not.

* * *

><p>D'awwwwww! I liked writing this one. Short and sweet, and in my opinion exactly how it would happen if and when Natsu proposes to Lucy, haha.<p>

Till next update!

-oMM


	7. Spy

Hi there, everybody! Yeesh, I've really been slipping on this lately. So busy, so busy... I'll try to keep up in the future, haha.

First one from Natsu's POV! Yay!

* * *

><p><span><strong>#44 Spy<strong>

"I don't think we should be doing this…"

"Shh!" Gray hissed angrily. "You want her to hear you?"

Natsu shut his mouth and ducked lower in the bushes below the window he'd probably broken into a hundred times. "Well let's not be too long, I've got to get back home." When Gray remained silent, Natsu sighed and went on, "Remind me why we're here again?"

Gray raised his head above the windowsill and peered in through the glass, eyes narrowed as he looked around. "Lucy's our friend, right?" he asked rhetorically. "So if she's got a secret boyfriend, I think we deserve to know about it."

Natsu felt a lump rise in his throat at these words. "What makes you think she's got a secret boyfriend?"

Gray fixed his friend with a pointed look. "Isn't it obvious?" he went on. "She sneaks around a lot, she's always busy on the weekends, she's been dressing different, she's always happy… She's in love, and she's not very good at hiding it."

"Since when are you the expert on how girls act?" Natsu challenged Gray with a chuckle, though he knew he was right. Lucy had been a little too obvious in her actions and moods lately.

"I just… notice these things, okay?" Gray answered, creeping up to the window again.

Natsu suppressed a laugh and said quietly, "What would Juvia say if she saw you spying on Lucy late at night?" effectively distracting Gray once again.

Gray's face paled instantly and his eyes widened. He shot Natsu a warning look and insisted, "That's got nothing to do with this!" Natsu turned away from the window to keep from laughing out loud, as Gray cleared his throat awkwardly and continued, "Now, I asked Lucy earlier about doing a mission tonight, just to see if she'd make an excuse again, and she said she had plans already! She wouldn't even tell me what they were! That means she's obviously hiding something—a secret relationship, to be specific. The question is, who's the guy? I don't think it's someone from our guild, since she acts the same around everyone except you and me. If you ask me, those Blue Pegasus guys are pretty suspicious… There she is!"

Natsu raised his head enough to see in the living room window, where sure enough, Lucy had emerged from the hallway wearing a bathrobe and slippers, her wet hair sitting loosely on her shoulders. "This has gotta be some sort of invasion of privacy…" he muttered, shaking his head as they watched Lucy stride to a corner of the room and inspect different pairs of earrings.

Gray scoffed and waved a hand. "There's no such thing as privacy between friends," he reasoned. "She's totally got a date tonight. Just look!" Once she seemed to have decided on a set of jewelry, she rung some loose water out of her hair and left the room, disappearing back into the hallway. "We've got to find out more," Gray whispered. "Come on." With that, he began leading the way around the outside of the house. The boys did their best to keep quiet, but before they reached Lucy's bedroom window, a thought hit Natsu: she was probably getting dressed. And if they hadn't invaded her privacy already, that would be over stepping the bounds big time.

"Gray, wait," Natsu said, coming to a halt near the front door and holding out an arm to stop his friend. "This isn't right. I'm sure if we just asked her she'd tell us the truth."

"Are you kidding?" Gray responded. "Like she'd talk to us about this. Relationships are girl talk. She might talk to Levy or Erza, but never us."

"Then we can get it out of one of them," Natsu argued back, placing himself in Gray's way as the latter tried to dodge around him. "I just don't think we should be spying on her like this."

Gray took a deep breath and glared at Natsu. "Look. Lucy's our friend, which means she shouldn't be keeping secrets from us, right?"

Natsu shrugged, apprehensive. "Everybody has secrets, right?"

Gray raised his eyebrows. "Are you saying you've got a secret, too?" he demanded.

"…Not exactly," Natsu answered evasively, preferring not to go there. It would really be best if they just got out of there while they still could. If Lucy caught them… Well, secrets would be the least of their worries.

"Whatever," Gray brushed the matter off. "But she's got a secret, and I'm gonna find out what it is."

"No, Gray, wait—"

"Out of the way!" Gray shoved Natsu to the side and darted past him, but froze when he heard the sound of the doorbell ring just inside the house. Natsu straightened up and looked behind him, realizing with a pang of dread that he'd fallen against the button for the doorbell.

"Uh-oh…" Natsu said.

"Hide!" Gray whispered frantically, diving into the nearest bush. Natsu was about to follow him when the door opened from inside, spilling light onto the front step.

"Natsu?" Lucy said in wonder. "What are you doing here?"

He turned to face her, an awkward smile on his face. "I was… just passing through. Thought I'd say 'hi'." He glanced sideways at where he knew Gray was hiding, listening to every word. _Don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything… _he silently pleaded.

But Lucy couldn't hear him. "I wasn't expecting you for over an hour. Sneak away from Gray early tonight?" Lucy shot him a mischievous glance and giggled. Natsu could swear he heard a tiny rustle in the bushes—probably the sound of Gray's jaw dropping. _Well, cat's out of the bag now, _he thought, mentally smacking himself in the forehead. _No use pretending anymore_.

"Sort of," Natsu answered, rubbing the back of his neck. "On our way back to the guild. Can't stay long though, he's probably around here somewhere."

"Ooh, dangerous," she said with a laugh. "Exciting, huh?"

He couldn't help but grin at the look on Lucy's face, and the look he imagined on Gray's. "Well I left Happy at the guild hall, better get back and get him home. I'll see you later tonight, okay?"

Lucy smiled, before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around Natsu's neck, his instinctively finding her waist. She pressed her lips against his for a moment, before replying, "Can't wait." And with that, she disappeared back into the house.

When the sound of Lucy's retreating footsteps had disappeared, Natsu let out a heavy sigh and turned to see Gray rising slowly from the bush beside the door, wearing much the same expression of complete and utter shock that Natsu had envisioned. It was more than a little funny, to tell the truth, it was all Natsu could do not to burst out laughing, even though it meant his and Lucy's secret was finally out.

"What," Gray began in a voice of forced calm, "the _hell_ just happened?"

* * *

><p>I wasn't originally gonna end it there, but I'm tired and I think I like it ending there, haha. Anyway, I really love the idea of Natsu and Lucy sneaking around behind the backs of the rest of the guild, especially Gray, haha. I think I have one more to that effect later on in my list... :D<p>

Catch y'all on the flipside! Oh, and drop me a review, pretty please! Thankies!

-oMM


	8. Point

What up y'all? Been a while... again. Nice long one for you this time! I sort of got part of the idea for this one from my brother (we had a brainstorming session, haha), and I wasn't entirely sure where I was gonna go with it or how it would turn out, but I actually really like what I ended up coming up with. Hope you all enjoy it too!

Thanks again to all my readers and reviewers! I'm done with my hectic con month and as soon as I finishing moving this weekend I should have more free time... I know better than to make promises with my track record, but I'm hoping I can be a bit more attentive with this series in coming months.

Enjoy this nice long update! (And look, I even updated the image for this story to one of the icons I use on LJ! Cute, huh? haha)

* * *

><p><strong><span>#18 Point<span>**

_It's dark. I look around and all I see on any side is darkness. No sound. No light. No anything. Where am I? Everyone, everything is gone, lost in the seeping blackness that surrounds me. I want to scream but my voice isn't working. So instead I do the only thing I can do – I run._

_There's no ground below me, but still I push myself forward, pumping my legs and slamming my feet on the ground, my arms swinging wildly and my chest heaving with every breath. Where am I going? What am I running from? What am I running to? What's my purpose? What's the point? Why can't I stop?_

_How long have I been running now? It feels like my whole life, I've been trying to escape something. My family, my future, my friends, my fears. And now I think I've lost it all, and there's nothing I can do except keep on running._

_As I run, suddenly the darkness begins to lighten and take form. The ground beneath my pounding feet feels earthy and soft. Twigs catch at my legs. Leaves blur my vision. Wind whips at my hair. Thick, impassable walls of foliage appear on either side of me, leading me in a straight and narrow path between them. I've seen this before, in books I used to read as a child. It's a giant hedge maze, and somehow I've landed in the middle of it._

_It looks like sunlight is trying to come through the tightly-grown branches of the hedges, and tiny patches of light appear on the ground every few inches, casting odd shadows around my feet, but the sky far above me is dark – I can even see stars dotting its blackness. The air around me is thick and warm, like a jungle, but so empty I'm almost choking on my own breath. It's deadly quiet around me, but my ears are ringing with the sounds of leaves rustling, branches breaking, wind howling, and my own feet thumping on the dirt. I reach a turn in the maze and have no choice but to head to my left, though that leads quickly to a fork in the road. Without slowing down I take the right path, anxiety growing all the while. Where am I going? How am I going to get out of here?_

_More turns, more forks, more decisions, I still don't know how long I've been running, taking whichever path seems easier and not stopping to think things through. I try and remember a time when things were different, but I can't see anything but this endless maze._

_Finally I slow to a halt, breathing fast, legs aching. There's a wall of hedge in front of me. I can go left or I can go right, but for the life of me I can't make myself choose. I'm tired of running. I just want some help._

_As if on cue, I feel the weight of something touch my hand. I look down and realize I'm holding a compass. I lift it to eye level and watch as the needle steadies itself. It's pointing to the left path. Not questioning, I take a step to the left, but stop when the needle on the compass starts to move very slowly and evenly toward the right._

_I freeze and stare open-mouthed, wondering what's going on and what I should do. Compasses are supposed to point north. 'North' can't be moving. Does that mean I'm actually moving? It doesn't feel that way. But then again, I can hardly tell which way is up in this maze, and anything is possible._

_This time when the needle begins to move back to the left, I think I can hear something from that direction. Twigs breaking, leaves shifting, feet pounding. Someone is drawing closer, and it looks as though the compass is following them. I start to get scared—well, more scared than before. Should I run? Then if I do, which way? Toward the sounds or away from them?_

_I want to make a decision, but I still can't. It doesn't matter, though, there's no time. In seconds the approaching sounds are almost deafening to my muddled brain, but my feet remain rooted as a dark shape rounds the corner far to my left._

"_Lucy!" a familiar voice calls my name. It sounds urgent, almost afraid. Something is wrong. This voice is never afraid._

_As the figure draws near, my eyes confirm his appearance. Natsu. I want to say his name, ask him what's going on, but still my voice won't come. I can't even move. I can only wait for him to reach me._

_When he does, I can see the frantic expression on his face. My compass is going wild, spinning around and around as though a magnet had been placed on top of it, confusing its sense of direction. And why can't I move? Why can't I speak? I feel so useless and it's driving me mad._

"_Lucy," Natsu says again, grabbing my arm and staring into my eyes. "We've gotta get out of here. You've been stuck here too long. You're in danger!"_

_Danger? I wonder, my eyes widening. What kind of danger? What does he know that I don't?_

"_Let's go!" he yells, grabbing my hand and running back the way he came. Finally my feet allow me to run again, but still I have trouble keeping up with Natsu, who continues to pull me along at an alarming speed. His fear only makes mine increase. What could possibly have him this afraid?_

_We run through what seems like the wildest part of the maze. The hedges are less trimmed and we're forced to jump and dodge to avoid the jagged, protruding branches. I feel sharp twigs grab at my arms and legs, making tiny cuts and bruises appear on my skin. The wind whips my hair about, obscuring my vision. I trip and fall once, landing hard on the uneven ground. Natsu grinds to a halt a few yards ahead of me. "Come on!" he says urgently. "I'm not gonna lose you!" He reaches toward me, but I can't reach him. I wonder briefly why he doesn't come back, but then for some reason I feel like this is something I can—no, have to do myself. My desire to be back beside him and not alone and lost proves strong enough for me to pull myself to my feet and close the small distance between us, grabbing his hand once more and allowing him to lead me onward. "Don't turn back, okay?" he grunts through gritted teeth, and I wonder how I could ever do such a thing when what awaits me in the past is nothing but darkness and confusion. Still, with how difficult this forward path has become, I don't know what to do anymore._

_Finally we round a corner and the maze opens up. I gasp when we stop suddenly, our path barred by a great wall of fire stretching as far as my eyes can see in either direction. I can feel an intense heat burning my skin from the proximity, and I actually consider turning heel and dashing back into the maze rather than face the fire. But Natsu's firm grip on my hand keeps me in place. He squares his shoulders and I expect him to turn and head alongside the burning barricade, in search of a new path. He surprises me by striding heavily straight for it._

_After a few frantic steps I dig my heels into the ground and yank my fingers from his hold, still unable to speak. He turns to face me in wonder. "You can't go back!" he shouts over the roar of the flames. It's not an order, more like he's pleading with me. There's… desperation in his eyes. Would he rather I be burned alive than wander lost in the maze forever? Would I? Do I take this dangerous path in the hopes that it'll somehow free me from the maze and whatever is threatening to trap me there? Again, I still just don't know what to do._

_Natsu growls in frustration and reaches for my hand again. He tries to pull me toward the fire, but I don't move. I can't move. I can't want to move. So he grabs my shoulders and shakes me hard, attempting to snap me out of my dangerous thoughts. I glance up into his eyes, which are boring into mine with such an intense expression that all other thoughts momentarily vanish from my mind. There's no terrorizing maze behind me. There's no threatening wall of flame in front of me. There's him, and there's me. There's what I've faced alone, and what we've yet to face together. And that's all._

"_You trust me, don't you?" he asks me carefully, so I understand every word._

_It's not a choice, because there's only one answer. I don't have to think about it, it's there on the edge of my mind and the tip of my tongue before I even need to register the question. If there's one thing in this world that I believe in without any doubt, it's Natsu. Finally my voice breaks free and I whisper, "Yes."_

_He smiles and releases my shoulders. He steps beside me and I take his hand, both of us facing the biting flames. The compass that's still in my right hand has stopped spinning, and is now pointing directly to my left. I look to the side to see Natsu shoot a glance over his shoulder into the maze. "Now!" he screams, and we take off toward the heat. I'm still afraid, and it's taking all I have to force each step closer to the looming wall of fire. It's frightening, but exhilarating. For the first time I feel as though I'm deciding for myself how my life will turn. Natsu may have led me here, but he didn't force me. He just gave me the incentive to finally stop running with no direction._

_We've almost reached the flames now. I can feel my skin burning. The raging heat and blinding light are finally too much for my senses, and I shut my eyes and take a deep breath, knowing we're only inches away from the inferno…_

With a gasp, Lucy sat bolt upright, breathing hard. After a beat, she realized she was sitting on a bed (that wasn't hers), blankets twisted uncomfortably around her shaking body. Her skin was covered in a sheen of sweat from head to toe, and her damp clothes were clinging to her like static electricity. The room was dimly-lit, with only one lamp in the corner and the night sky visible through a window along the back wall. She thought of getting up and going to find out where she was, but realized soon after how weak and tired her limbs were.

_A dream… _she thought breathlessly, shaking her head. _It was a dream…_ It had been so vivid, so real that she still had a difficult time convincing herself that it hadn't been. But now when she looked back she couldn't deny how fantastical the events had been. It raised the question, though—what had it meant?

As Lucy attempted to remember how she'd gotten where she was, she heard what sounded like voices and footsteps outside in the hall. It was a moment before she could make out what they were saying.

"I told you, she needs rest. That's the only way she'll get over this."

"I know, I know, but I thought I heard something." The footsteps stopped and the door began to swing open. "I just wanna check—"

Lucy couldn't help but smile at the sight of Natsu frozen mid-sentence in the doorway, standing just in front of a surprised Erza, the latter of whom turned and shouted down the hallway, "Hey! She's awake!" _This must be the guild hall,_ Lucy realized, finally recognizing the room and hallway.

In seconds Natsu had launched himself into the room and rested one knee on the bed, leaning toward Lucy and seemingly inspecting her. "Are you okay?" he asked seriously.

"I… don't know," Lucy answered truthfully. She was more than a little shaken from her dream, and still couldn't quite remember why she was there.

Natsu placed his hand over her forehead and his frown lessened. "Looks like your fever's gone down," he said, removing his hand and looking her in the eye (Lucy was sure the amount of cold sweat on her face must have bothered him, but if it had he didn't show it).

"What happened?" she asked in a hoarse voice as guild members began to congregate outside the room, peering in as best they could.

"You don't remember?" Natsu asked, a quizzical look on his face. When she shook her head, he continued, "You seemed really out of it yesterday. You kept saying you were fine, but then you just sort of… passed out. You had a really high fever and you kept shaking, Mira said you were having some kind of anxiety attack. I was…" he glanced over his shoulder briefly, "We were all really worried." Looking toward the door, Lucy noticed the relieved expressions on everyone's faces and didn't have to wonder if Natsu was telling the truth. As she thought about it and the haze from her fever cleared, her memory further corroborated the story. She'd done her best not to let it on, but lately she'd been under a lot of mental stress and confusion. It had now been almost two years since she'd joined Fairy Tail, and though they'd always accepted her with open arms, she'd never been able to shake the feeling that all she was doing was running away. Well, after all, she _had_ run away from home at the start of it all. Had that been a cowardly thing to do, hiding from her problems instead of facing them? Or had running been her way of facing them all long? She thought of her dream, and suddenly it all made sense. The darkness, then the maze, the compass, and Natsu.

Ever since she'd met him, things in her life had gotten more and more complicated. But to her, he was something like a goal. He was everything she'd always wanted to be—his own person, free and in control. Sure, he had is darkness—who didn't?—but that didn't stop him from forging his own path in life. That was what she'd wanted to do when she'd decided to run away. She didn't want her life decided for her, she'd wanted to do the deciding. In her dream, Natsu had led her through the most difficult part of the maze that was her life. He was even willing to walk through the fire with her, knowing that what was on the other side would set her free. Okay, so it hadn't happened quite that literally in real life, but the effect and intentions were the same.

"Lucy. Hey, Lucy!"

Lucy blinked twice, shaking herself from her reverie to see a hand snapping its fingers in front of her face. She turned to her right to see Gray retract his arm and shake his head, saying, "You with us?"

"Sorry," she answered, her voice still tired and ragged. "Just… remembering what happened."

"Here, drink this," Mira said gently from beside Gray, handing Lucy a glass of water, which she drank gratefully. The liquid cooled her sore throat and relaxed her tired body. She took a deep breath, her mind still a bit foggy.

"I know you've been sleeping a while," Mira continued, "but you should get some rest. Now that the fever's gone down your body's probably exhausted." Lucy didn't argue with this suggestion.

"And _you_," Erza rounded on Natsu to Lucy's right, poking him hard in the chest, "should get to bed, too. I know you haven't slept since she passed out yesterday. You barely even left this room." Natsu shrugged, trying and failing to stifle a yawn. The fact that he'd been so attentive of her during her illness made Lucy smile to herself, thinking again on her dream and what it had meant.

Mira giggled lightly, before saying, "We should go, give you some time to get back on your feet."

Natsu placed his hand once again on Lucy's forehead. "Are you sure you're feeling better?" he asked.

She nodded. "Much better," she answered honestly. "Go on, you should sleep too."

He looked apprehensive, but nodded. She could tell by his eyes he was almost as tired as she was. And while she was grateful for his having stayed beside her while she'd slept, it may not have been the best thing for him to do. "Alright," he answered. "But I'll be back here to check on you first thing in the morning."

"No, not first thing in the morning," Lucy scolded him. "Afternoon. We both need rest." He opened his mouth to speak, but she went on, "Look, I don't want you waking me up before noon, okay?" she ordered, hoping that at least would give him enough of an excuse to catch up on sleep as well. She guessed right, and he closed his mouth and shook his head.

"Okay, okay," he conceded.

"Promise?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

Natsu grinned. "Aw, come on. You trust me, don't you?"

Lucy froze at these words, the same words he'd spoken to her in her dream. He didn't know that, of course, but it just served to prove even more that the dream had been a reflection of her own life. She smiled to herself and answered, "You know I do."

As the four of them turned to leave (after Erza's having already shooed away the other guild members), Lucy said to no one in particular, "Wait." They all stopped and turned to face her. She glanced them over and said, "Thanks, guys. For always watching out for me." They all appeared somewhat surprised at this seemingly random gesture, and looked at each other in mild confusion.

"She might be delirious," Gray said aside to Erza, who punched him in the arm and glared at him. Lucy laughed.

"You're our friend," Mira answered kindly. "We always look after a friend."

"Just don't go doing that again, okay?" Natsu warned her in a voice somewhere between joking and serious. "Worrying about you really tires me out." He yawned again and once more Lucy felt a strong surge of emotion. She smiled and raised her hand to her forehead in a mock-salute. Then she looked Natsu in the eye and jerked her head, gesturing for him to come closer to her. He raised an eyebrow inquisitively, but obliged. He stood next to her bed and leaned toward her with a vaguely concerned expression, asking, "What is it? You need something?" She nodded with a small smile, before reaching for his scarf and using it to pull him forward. She just had time to laugh inwardly at the surprised expression on his face before touching her lips against his.

She heard a gasp from across the room and assumed it must have come from Mira. After a few seconds, Lucy let go of Natsu and sat back against her pillows, grinning at his blank expression as he slowly stood upright.

"She's _definitely_ delirious," Gray scoffed incredulously, and Erza let out a kind of dumbfounded laugh in response. Maybe he was right, Lucy thought to herself. But maybe she was glad she was delirious from the fever. Kissing Natsu out of the blue like that probably wasn't something she'd have done if she'd been completely in her right mind, though she was sure she wouldn't want to do so any less.

Natsu blinked a few times before asking slowly, "What was that for?"

Lucy smiled softly, already feeling her eyes droop with exhaustion. "Thank you," she said quietly, "for staying with me." She wondered if he knew she hadn't only meant the past day, that she wanted more than anything to thank him for staying by her side through everything those past two years. She tried to let her eyes do the talking for her, and from the serious look on his face she thought she might have succeeded.

After a second he smiled back, saying, "What are friends for?" and just the same she could tell by his tone that he knew as well as she did that their friendship wasn't the same as any normal friendship.

As they all filed out of the room to give Lucy some time to rest, and as Natsu shot her one last grin as he shut the door, she couldn't help but feel thankful for this random illness she'd fallen victim to. It had brought her that strange dream, and had made her realize that she had everything she needed to set her life on the right path, the path she wanted to take.

All she'd needed from the start was someone to point her in the right direction.

* * *

><p>And now it's late, so I'm off to bed! Review for me pretty please! This one took me literally a whole day to write since I was unsure about it... Love to hear your thoughts!<p>

Later alligators!

-oMM


	9. Cut

Hey, long time no see, party people! A short one this time, but I think it's cute and it makes me smile :)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#5 Cut<span>**

"Mama! _Mama!_"

Lucy looked up from her book to see Layla hurrying toward the bench on which she sat, her little eyes wide. "What is it, honey? What happened?"

"Luke was climbing the tree – I _told _him not to, I told him he'd fall – but he didn't listen! And he _fell!_" her daughter wailed.

"Show me," Lucy ordered, jumping to her feet in worry. Layla spun around and sped off through the park, her mother following along close behind her. When they reached Luke, he was sitting on the ground, his hand clamped over his upper left arm and his eyes watering. Lucy knelt down beside her son. "Let me see it," she urged him, and without a word he lifted his hand to reveal a long, shallow cut on his arm. Aside from that, Lucy was relieved to find, he seemed to be alright. "Come on, let's get you home," she said. "This needs to be cleaned."

Lucy was so experienced in the noble art of dressing wounds that in what seemed like no time at all they had returned home and she had cleaned and bandaged the small cut on the arm of her stubborn eight-year-old, while his twin watched quietly with wide eyes. "You should have listened to your sister," Lucy scolded Luke as she tied down the bandage.

"Yeah, you should have," Layla spoke up, glaring at her brother, who simply rolled his eyes.

"I was _fine_ until you started yelling at me!" Luke shot back. Layla only stuck out her tongue in response.

Lucy held back a laugh, shaking her head. As she finished securing the bandage, she bent forward and planted a kiss over the wound, as if to seal it tight.

"Eww, why'd you do that?" Luke complained, looking at his arm with a funny expression.

"Well," Lucy began with a knowing smile, "you see, a mother's kiss has a special power."

"Like magic?" Layla asked, her eyes growing big with curiosity.

"Yes, like magic," Lucy agreed. Her twins were still too young to learn magic of their own, but they had both always been fascinated by the prospect – Layla especially couldn't wait for her parents to teach her to use it. "Healing magic of the strongest kind."

"Really?" Luke asked, his earlier childish antipathy having completely faded. "I think it's working. It's starting to feel better!" Lucy smiled and ruffled his blonde hair.

"Just be careful from now on, okay?" she warned both children. "I only like to use it in emergencies." They nodded and she sent them on their way, smiling to herself.

Later that night, not ten minutes after the twins had gone to bed, Lucy was sitting in their living room reading a book when the front door opened from the outside. She looked up and smiled as her husband entered and closed the door behind him. "Welcome back," she greeted him.

"Hey," Natsu answered in a low, breathy voice. It was then Lucy noticed something wasn't right – he was breathing heavily and leaning awkwardly against the wall, his head hanging low.

"What's wrong?" she asked, suddenly worried. She got to her feet and was at his side in seconds. He was covered in bruises and small scratches, and there was a bad burn on his right arm, but thankfully she saw no serious injuries. He looked to be so exhausted, however, that he could barely remain standing – which was saying something, for him.

"I'm alright," he insisted and she swung his arm around her shoulders and they stumbled to the couch. "Heh heh… We won, at least." He let out a sort of tired laugh which turned into a groan as he collapsed onto the sofa.

Lucy sat down beside him with an exasperated sigh. "You should really be a bit more careful, you know," she told him, the scolding tone she often reserved for her children coming out. "Weren't you with Gray? What happened to him?"

"He's worse than me," Natsu admitted, closing his eyes. "But he'll be fine."

"Mama?" a small voice sounded from the hallway. Lucy stood up to see Luke stepping into the living room, Layla trailing behind him like a shadow.

"You two should be in bed," Lucy reprimanded them half-heartedly.

"Is Daddy okay?" Luke spoke again, his eyes fixed nervously on his father.

Natsu offered them a wide grin, and looked so much like his usual carefree self that even Lucy almost believed it. "Don't worry, guys," he said, his voice betraying the exhaustion his face was trying to hide. "I'm just tired. Had a long day."

Luke cocked his head to the side hesitantly, but Layla darted around her brother and dashed forward, throwing herself onto Natsu with tears in her eyes. He grimaced at the disturbance to some of the larger bruises on his body, but wrapped his arms around his daughter all the same. Lucy sat back down beside them, watching with sympathy in her eyes. She knew Natsu would be perfectly fine after a good night's rest, having known him for such a long time. But their children were young, and though Natsu and Lucy were often injured when they took on jobs for the guild, the twins were not yet accustomed to seeing their parents in such states. It was a difficult life they all lived, but they _lived_ it. And that was what mattered in the end, no matter how many times Natsu and Lucy would have to comfort and reassure this of their children.

Suddenly Layla gasped, sitting upright and causing Natsu to wince again. "Mama, use your magic kiss!" she said in a voice just above a whisper, her wide eyes trained on Lucy. Natsu turned his head and raised an eyebrow at his wife, as if to ask, _Magic kiss?_

Lucy chuckled. "I guess it's an emergency," she said, smiling at Layla as Luke stepped up to the arm of the couch to watch. Scooting herself forward on the couch, Lucy placed a hand under Natsu's chin and pressed a light, gentle kiss to his lips.

She heard Luke make a strangled sound of exaggerated disgust as she backed away and couldn't help but laugh. Natsu grinned as well and said, "Hey, I feel better already." Layla's eyes lit up in excitement and relief.

"Alright, now off to bed, you two," Lucy ordered the twins. They bid goodnight and hurried off down the hall.

"So what's this about a magic kiss…?" Natsu asked her with mirth in his eyes once they'd gone.

Lucy shook her head, recalling almost fondly what had happened earlier. "Luke fell and cut his arm today," she explained. "I told them a mother's kiss had special healing power."

Natsu laughed. "That makes sense. I've always thought your kisses were magic," he joked, wiggling his eyebrows at her. She grinned and punched him in the arm, making him cringe noticeably. "Ouch," he complained, rubbing the spot where she'd hit him. "That wasn't very nice. I think I need more magic now."

With a smile, she leaned forward. "Shut up," she replied, before once more covering his mouth with her own.

* * *

><p>I love Luke and Layla, haha.<p>

'Til next time!

-oMM


	10. Drunk

Woo-hoo, two in one week! And double-digits now, too! Only 40 more to go... (ugh)

I originally had something very different planned for this prompt, but the random number generator gave me 11 and I'm in too peppy of a mood today to write something dark, so I switched it up and wrote something light and funny instead! Hope it makes some people smile today!

I also wanna toss a major "thank you" to all my readers/reviewers/followers. We topped 100 reviews on this with the last chapter, which is amazingly awesome! Next milestone is 500! Think we can get there by chapter 50? Think I can even MAKE IT to chapter 50? Maybe through the power of teamwork! Haha :)

Anyway, have a laugh, everybody! And thanks again!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#11 Drunk<span>**

If normal days classified as rowdy at the Fairy Tail guild hall, parties broke the scale altogether – especially when the festivities were over the appointment of a new S-Class mage. Freed had insisted time again that he didn't want an oversized celebration, but Bickslow had of course ignored his nay-saying and planned one anyway, asserting that his teammate's promotion was not an event to be overlooked. And when someone from Fairy Tail wanted a party, they often got more than they'd bargained for.

The guild hall was twice as crowded as usual, with people of all ages lounging around every table and gathered in every corner. There was talking, laughing, singing, dancing, shouting, fighting, and all manner of sounds in between. Elfman and Lisanna were on table duty, and could be seen darting in and out of crowds carrying trays piled high with food. Erza had had a few too many drinks and challenged a similarly inebriated Gajeel to a sort of extreme dance-off, which involved weapons as well as moves and which many of the guild members had begun betting on. Mirajane had enlisted the help of Alzack and Bisca behind the bar, though Cana was doing a better job of passing out drinks than the three of them combined – she had taken to handing a glass to anyone lucky (or unlucky, depending on the person) enough to pass by her. In fact, it seemed the only person she had yet to catch was Wendy, who appeared to be avoiding Cana as if the older girl had an extremely contagious disease.

When Gajeel finally passed out, Erza dropped her swords and raised her hands in the air, letting out a very loud victory scream and prompting the onlookers who'd placed their bets with her to laugh and collect their dues – Natsu and Gray among them. Once finished, they stepped back from the crowd to count their spoils.

"Gajeel never even stood a chance," Gray pointed out, a wide grin on his face. "Did you see that move where Erza flipped over him to catch that spear, then used it to trip him up right in the middle of his turn? It was perfect!"

"Nobody can beat Erza," Natsu agreed with similar excitement. "Hey," he went on, his mind changing direction. "You haven't seen Lucy, have you? I sent Happy to find her ages ago but now I've lost him too."

Gray frowned, glancing over the crowd. "Last I saw her, she was with Cana. But that was a while ago."

_Cana?_ Natsu thought, a lump forming in his throat. "Great…" he groaned. Cana had made it her personal mission that night to get as many people drunk as she could, and she knew full well that Lucy wasn't the best at holding her liquor. Natsu had a bad feeling about this turn of events.

"Don't worry about it," Gray said off-handedly, noticing the look on his friend's face. "She knows better than to let Cana trap her. I'm sure she's with Levy or something."

"Natsu!" a small, high-pitched voice called suddenly from somewhere in the crowd. Natsu looked to see Happy rise up above his guildmates' heads and glide straight for them, looking almost afraid. "I'm sorry, Natsu! I tried to—_hic!_—stop her, but she was too—_hic!_—strong for me!" As the cat hiccupped again, Natsu fixed him with an incredulous stare.

"You haven't been drinking, have you?" he demanded as Gray started to laugh.

"No!" Happy replied. "Well—_hic!_—maybe a _little_… I was looking for Lucy, like you—_hic!_—said, but Cana wouldn't—_hic!_—let her go! She forced me! _Hic!_" He shook his head, trying to stay in the air but teetering dangerously. "I tried to save Lucy, but—_hic!_ I'm sorry, Natsu! It's all my—_hic!_—fault!"

Before Natsu could ask what Happy was talking about, the cat's wings drooped and he suddenly dropped several feet in altitude before catching himself. He fell directly into the path of a hurrying Lisanna, who shrieked and jerked to the side, losing her balance and causing the tray of food in her hands to go flying, cascading its contents over the small group of people behind her. The tray hit Jet in the side of the head, knocking him into Gray, who in turn fell sideways into Natsu, who grabbed his friend and staggered backward, managing to keep his footing rather than tripping against the bar that stood just behind him. Happy looked mortified, and opened his mouth to speak when another voice interrupted.

"HEY, YOU! GET OFF OF MY BOYFRIEND!"

_Uh-oh…_ Natsu thought as he yanked Gray to his feet. There was no mistaking that voice.

"Oh, no," Happy whined, covering his mouth and gliding around to hide behind Natsu's shoulder. "Here she—_hic!_—comes."

Gray barely had time to regain his balance and turn around before Lucy was between him and Natsu, hands on her hips and a fuzzy glare in her eyes. She was swaying vaguely on the spot and there was a light flush of color in her cheeks. "Whodo you thick you are, anyways?" she demanded in a slurred voice, poking Gray hard in the chest and staring him down. "You _floozy!_"

"What?" Gray stuttered, looking utterly lost as Natsu smacked a hand to his forehead. "You're joking, right?"

"I don' care if you don' wanna fight," Lucy argued, mishearing Gray's words. "Keep way from 'im, sister!"

By now some of the people around them were watching with piqued interest, more than a few breaking into fits of laughter. Realization dawned on Gray's face and he glanced over Lucy's shoulder at Natsu with a groan. "She thinks I'm a girl, doesn't she?"

Natsu offered him an almost apologetic half-smile as Lucy once again misunderstood what he said. "Tha's right! I'm his girl! He doesn' need you!"

"Lucy, just calm down a minute," Natsu said, carefully placing a hand on her shoulder. He'd only ever seen her drunk twice before, but that had been enough to teach him how… _aggressive_ alcohol made her.

She shook him off, her eyes fixed on Gray, who had begun to back away from her slowly. "Maybe you should take her home, man," he suggested to Natsu, sounding on edge.

"He's _not _goin' home with you!" Lucy growled. "You thick jus' cuz you go around topless, guys are gunna fall for you?" Gray looked down at his bare torso and sputtered in surprise, clearly not remembering having lost his shirt (Natsu didn't find it necessary to point out that he had taken it off not ten minutes into the party). "'Sides, I can do that too." Defiantly, Lucy gathered the hem of her shirt in her hands and began to lift it toward her head.

"Whoa, okay!" Natsu yelled, leaping forward and wrapping his arms around Lucy from behind, trapping her arms at her sides. The men around them who'd perked up and leaned closer at her motion seemed to deflate in disappointment, and Natsu felt a twinge of annoyance toward every one of them. "I think it's time we get out of—mmmph!" Natsu's sentence was cut off when Lucy wriggled around in his arms and crashed her mouth against his, shoving him back against the bar and pressing her body tight against him. She was an aggressive drunk, alright – and it seemed her kissing was no exception. He responded reflexively at first, but the snickers and whoops from the crowd around them brought his judgment back, and after a few seconds he raised his hands to Lucy's shoulders and pushed her off of him. "Uh…" he said unintelligibly, his train of thought momentarily derailed.

Gray took the opportunity to attempt an escape, but unfortunately for him, Lucy saw his movement. Before he could get more than two steps away, she grabbed his arm and spun him around, bracing a fist and slugging him hard across the jaw. He stumbled off his feet and sprawled across the floor, knocking over two chairs in the process. She was about to launch herself after him when Natsu grabbed her arm. Still in battle mode, she spun around with a glare and swung the same fist at her captor. It connected squarely with the side of his face just below the eye and he staggered back, releasing his hold on her.

"Oh!" she gasped, her blurred eyes widening. "Sorry, Natsu… You okay?"

Natsu blinked a few times and straightened up, glancing at Lucy. He opened his mouth to speak but stopped when he saw her eyes drooping and her smile fading. Then without warning she went limp and collapsed with a tired groan, and Natsu dove to one knee to catch her before she hit the ground, fast asleep.

Chuckling in exasperation, Natsu gathered Lucy into his arms and climbed to his feet as the laughter around him grew louder. Somehow in the madness, Juvia had found her way to Gray's side and was coaxing him into a sitting position as he rubbed the spot on his jaw where Lucy had hit him. Happy must have fled the scene at some point during the commotion and was nowhere to be found, but Cana had made her way over in his place.

"You should get her home," Cana told Natsu with a laugh and a shake of her head. "She won't be feeling so feisty in the morning."

"This is your fault, you know," he told her with a smirk.

She held up her hands, one of which was holding a mug of frothy, golden liquid. "Hey, I was just trying to get her to loosen up! It's a party!" She laughed again and took a swig of her drink. "If you ask me, I'd say it worked like a charm!" Cana offered a cheerful wave and headed back into the crowd. Natsu bid the rest a hasty goodbye before carrying his sleeping girlfriend out of the guild hall and into the night air.

When they arrived safely at Lucy's apartment, Natsu made a beeline straight for her bedroom and laid her down carefully on her bed, not bothering to draw back the blankets. There was heat rising from her skin, and a quick trip to the kitchen soon yielded Natsu a cool, damp cloth, which he folded up and set across her brow. He sighed and shook his head, watching her sleeping form and remembering the last time she'd let alcohol get the better of her. That time, she had made the mistake of picking a fight with Erza over who could hit the hardest, and had been subsequently knocked out cold by the undeniable winner of said argument. He supposed this time had gone a _little_ better.

After a few minutes, Natsu turned to leave, but stopped when he felt a pull on the edge of his vest. He spun back to see Lucy looking up at him through half-open eyes. "Where are we?" she asked groggily.

"Your place," he answered.

She looked puzzled, but her eyes sparked with concern when she noticed the bruise forming under his left eye. "What happened? Are you alright?"

"Fine," he replied honestly. "I'll, uh… explain it tomorrow." He wasn't surprised that she didn't seem to remember.

Lucy breathed deeply, grimacing. "My head's killing me…" she complained. "Hey, will you… stay with me? Just for a while?"

Natsu was taken slightly aback, but figured she was still a bit delirious and didn't want to argue with her. "Of course," he said, and she scooted over on the bed in an obvious invitation for him to lie down beside her. Tentatively, he swung his legs up onto the mattress and stretched out in the space she'd made. She wasted no time in twisting to the side and lying her head on his shoulder, cuddling up next to him and taking a deep, steadying breath. He smiled and draped his arm behind her shoulders.

"Hey…" she whispered in a voice already heavy with imminent sleep. "What happened to Freed's party?"

Natsu laughed lightly, running his fingers through Lucy's hair as she nodded off. "Trust me, you had a great time."

* * *

><p>It annoys me that Microsoft Word chooses to underline the 'Tail' in 'Fairy Tail' and ask if I meant 'Fairy Tale'. No, Microsoft Word. If I had meant 'Fairy Tale' I would have TYPED 'Fairy Tale'. Don't presume to know what I'm talking about. It's bad enough I have to add everyone's names to your dictionary just to avoid the glaring red lines. Rude.<p>

Haha, anyway, reviews are love, friends! See you soon!

-oMM


	11. Temperature

Nice short one this time.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#15 Temperature<span>**

"Come on, Lucy! I said I was sorry! How long are you gonna stay in there?" When no response came, Natsu dug his heel into the snow in frustration and ran to catch up with Horologium, who was trudging resolutely ahead of him at a surprising speed. "That yeti almost had you! I had to do _something_," Natsu went on in an exasperated voice. "How was I supposed to know the ice would melt that easily?" He hadn't _meant_ for her to fall into the frozen lake – the ice must have been thinner than it looked and _maybe_ his attack had been bigger than it needed to be, but that didn't change the fact that it was an accident. Still, apology or no, Lucy clearly wasn't happy. No sooner had Natsu pulled her out of the icy water than she shoved him away and immediately summoned Horologium, trapping herself safely inside the spirit's glass case.

When Natsu finally caught up with the giant grandfather clock and was able to see inside, he noticed Lucy had huddled herself into a tight ball and wrapped her damp coat around her body, which was shivering visibly. He bit his lip and felt a pang of guilt when he saw how pale her skin was. "At least come out so I can dry you off," he said, summoning a bright orb of warm flames around his left hand.

"'Are you _nuts_? Keep that disastrous fire away from me!' she says," Horologium reported dutifully as Lucy's mouth formed silent words, a furious look on her face.

Natsu clucked his tongue in annoyance, scowling. "You can't stay in there forever," he said. Lucy only raised her eyebrows as if to say, 'Watch me'. "We should find some kind of shelter," he went on when she didn't reply, turning and scanning his eyes along the snowy mountain path. "You can ignore me all you want when we get there, but you still need to get warm _somehow_." Lucy huffed silently and he took that to mean she agreed.

Before long they came across a small cave carved out of the mountain and made their way inside. It was empty, thankfully (you never could tell with these mountain caves, after all; sometimes they were home to the strangest things), so Natsu quickly gathered some wood from the area and lit a fire. He was glad to see Lucy finally step out of the clock's chamber and dismiss the spirit, but instead of coming to sit by the fire she dropped herself onto the cold ground on the opposite side of cave, turning her back and facing the cave mouth.

Natsu sighed evenly, irritated by her stubbornness. Didn't she realize she was putting herself in danger? "Look, you're gonna get sick if you don't at least dry off," he pointed out, folding his arms in front of him.

"And whose fault is that?" Lucy shot back, still facing away from him.

"I'm sorry! Okay? How many times do I have to say it?"

"A few more. I'm still mad at you."

Natsu bit his tongue and growled in frustration. _This isn't working,_ he admitted to himself. _But I've got to help her somehow… Time for a new approach, I guess._ "Fine," he said aloud. "If you won't come over here, then I'll bring the warmth to you."

As he started toward her, Lucy tensed and turned her head to the side. "Don't you dare—!" She jumped to her feet and tried to run, but was halted with a squeal when Natsu caught her from behind, wrapping his arms around her tightly and holding her in place. "Let go of me!" she ordered, her voice breaking from the cold.

"Not until you stop shivering," he replied adamantly, allowing his hands and arms to heat up just enough to try and evaporate some of the icy water that still clung to her clothes and skin. She squirmed in his grip and managed to drive her elbow hard into his stomach, causing him to grunt at the sharp pain. "Ouch! Watch it, will ya?" he grumbled.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said in a tone that showed clearly how _not_ sorry she was. "Did that hurt?" She turned her face to the side and smirked at him.

He mirrored her expression. "Coat off," he said. "Now."

"Oh, now you want to strip me, too?" she said dryly, her eyes gleaming with mirth. "What part of 'I'm mad at you' don't you understand?"

"I said 'coat'," he repeated, "then maybe we'll talk about the rest of it." To his relief, Lucy stopped fighting him just long enough for him to pull the damp coat from her cold body and toss it to the stony floor. The instant she was free, however, she darted forward a few steps and stooped down to the ground near the front of the cave.

Thinking she'd returned to her silent fuming, Natsu opened his mouth to speak when suddenly she jumped back to her feet and spun around, flinging an armful of snow at her partner. He barely saw her evil grin before the snow hit him full in the face, causing him to stumble backward in surprise. On the third step, he tripped over a rock and fell backward – right into the fire he'd built to keep them warm.

With an alarmed yell, he rolled to the side, brushing snow from his face and beating the flames from the back of his vest at the same time. With a scowl, he pulled himself to a sitting position and looked over to see Lucy laughing hysterically.

"Ha, ha," Natsu said sarcastically, pulling off his burned and ruined vest and tossing it into the fire. He rolled his shoulder as the soreness from the minor burn on his back died down. "You made your point."

"That worked out better than I could have hoped," Lucy admitted, still giggling as she strode over to where Natsu sat by the fire. "I guess I can forgive you now." When the light from the flickering flames reflected in her eyes, he saw a familiar excited mischief in them that was much more inviting than her icy glare from earlier that day. Before he could comment on it, she placed a hand against his chest and shoved him onto his back. She straddled his waist and said, "Besides, looks like we're even," before leaning down and forcing her mouth against his with a hungry fervor.

When they separated, Natsu glanced up at Lucy with a smirk and said, "You know what that means?" She raised an eyebrow and he pulled her down next to him onto her back, before rolling onto his hands and knees above her and yanking her wet shirt over her head. "We go into overtime," he finished with an evil grin, and she laughed as he lowered his head to kiss her again.

Maybe there was a way he could help her warm up, after all.

* * *

><p>Short and sweet :) Shoot me a review on your way out!<p>

Later, taters!

-oMM


	12. Defend

Hey there, hi there, ho there! This one's suuuuuper fluffly, just a warning, haha. I'm in a fantastical mood today, which means happy stories! Yay!

This message is brought to you by my inexhaustible fanfiction sweet tooth. Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#29 Defend<span>**

Natsu pounded a fist against the front door, a frustrated scowl on his face. "Hey! Lucy!" he called, not knowing whether or not she could hear him from inside. "I live here too, you know! What gives?" He grabbed the knob and threw himself against the wooden door, but to no avail. Evidently, something heavy had been pushed against the inside, effectively blocking the entrance.

With a growl, Natsu stomped around to the side of the building and looked into the ground floor window, which also had been blocked by what looked like the back of the bookcase that usually stood by their fireplace. "You can't keep me out, you know!" he shouted, a vague sense of amusement creeping through his irritation. "I've done this a hundred times!" When no answer came, he let out an exasperated sigh before heading around to the back of the house. After discovering that the back door had been similarly barricaded, he set his sights on the small basement window that sat less than a foot above the ground. The frame was a bit rusted, but thankfully it hadn't been blocked from the inside, and pushed open with a small amount of force, allowing Natsu to slide inside and drop to his feet on the dusty basement floor.

Upon climbing the stairs and entering the living room, he saw that it had indeed been the bookcase that was now blocking the nearby window. The blockade against the front door turned out to be the sofa, with both chairs piled atop it. _How'd she even do that?_ Natsu wondered incredulously, scratching his head.

"Lucy?" he called, spinning around and listening for any sign of movement. She _had_ to be in there. No one barricades an empty house. "Where are you?"

"Go away!" her muffled voice shouted in reply, originating from down the hall. _Yeah, right,_ Natsu thought in reply as he shook his head and set off toward Lucy's bedroom.

"You in there?" he asked loudly, knocking hard on the door. "Let me in already!" He turned the knob and tried to push the door open, but was once again foiled by an unseen, heavy force against the other side.

"No!" Lucy replied, sounding angry, and somehow also a bit afraid. "I don't want to talk to you! Just leave me alone!"

Natsu growled in frustration before setting his jaw and gripping the knob tightly. He took a step back and threw all his weight against the door in an effort to force it open. He was rewarded with a dull scraping sound as the door slid inward a few inches, and after one more violent shove he finally forced back both door and dresser and gained entrance to the bedroom.

Lucy was sitting cross-legged on her bed, wearing loose-fitting pajamas and a wary glare. On her lap was a plate of what looked like fish sticks piled around a bowl of… was that pudding? She huffed in apparent defeat and picked up a fish stick, dunking it resolutely into the pudding and popping the end of it into her mouth without a word.

Natsu stared at her in confusion and a tiny bit of revulsion. "You've been acting _weird_ lately," he said carefully, not moving from his place in the doorway as she finished the fish stick in her hand and went for another one. "You won't talk to anyone – even me, you're always angry, you don't want to go on missions with us – and now you're locking me out of the house and eating fish sticks and pudding? You gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Nothing's going on," she answered uncertainly, avoiding Natsu's eyes. "I just haven't been feeling well." She chose another fish stick and dipped it in the pudding before biting off the end and chewing it rather dully.

"Maybe that's because of your new diet," he suggested sarcastically, waving a hand toward the plate on her lap. With a sigh, he moved over and sat down beside her on the bed, trying to get her to look at him. "Come on, Lucy. It's obvious something's up. Why don't you just tell me?"

She stared into the bowl of pudding and answered, "I can't."

"Why not?"

Lucy breathed in like she was about to speak, but hesitated before whispering, "Because I love you."

Natsu's eyebrows knitted together in a confused frown. Where was she going with this? "I know," he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I love you, too. That's why I want to help you. And that's why you can trust me."

She took a deep, calming breath and was silent for a long minute before finally twisting around and raising her eyes to meet his gaze. "Alright," she conceded, her expression carefully guarded. She swallowed hard and cleared her throat, then blurted out, "I'm pregnant."

Natsu felt the expression leave his face all at once as he fixed Lucy with a blank stare. Whatever he'd been expecting her to say, that _hadn't_ been it. "W-What?" he stuttered absently.

"You heard me," she said in a quiet voice. When he didn't immediately respond, Lucy quickly turned her face back toward the pudding and said hurriedly, "I know I should've told you sooner, but I was afraid that—" She broke off suddenly when Natsu finally snapped out of the shock and let out a giddy laugh, a wide grin spreading unconsciously across his face. Her eyes darted back to meet his, a reluctant sort of hopefulness in them. "You're… not mad?" she asked uncertainly.

"Mad?" Natsu repeated incredulously. "Are you _kidding_? Why in the heck would I be mad? We're having a baby!" He laughed again and threw his arms around Lucy, yanking her toward him in a tight hug and causing the plate in her lap to tip over, spilling vanilla pudding over the mattress beneath them. Lucy laughed as well and returned the embrace, ignoring the mess her snack had made. "You're telling me _that's_ why you've been avoiding me?"

"I'm sorry," Lucy said with a sheepish smile. "It was stupid."

"Nah," Natsu argued, leaning his forehead against Lucy's and grinning at her. "Nothing about this is stupid." He squeezed her hands comfortingly, before standing up and stretching his arms, a calm sort of euphoria spreading through him as he allowed Lucy's news to sink in. "Told anyone else yet?"

"Not yet," she replied, a wide smile on her face and gleaming mirth in her eyes. Suddenly she giggled and said wryly, "Guess we'd better move the wedding up, huh?" Natsu laughed and grabbed Lucy's arms, pulling her to her feet. She returned the laugh as he wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her into the air, spinning her in a circle. When he set her down she stumbled somewhat with a breathy giggle. As he steadied her his eyes shot to her stomach and he said, "Whoops… Sorry, heh heh."

She shook her head with a smile. "No, it's okay," she replied. He looked at her inquisitively and she nodded her head, before he spread his fingers and placed the palm of his hand against her stomach. She flinched and muttered, "Your hand's warm," though she was smiling all the same. Natsu grinned as he felt the vaguest bit of movement beneath his fingers and a powerful swell of emotion rose up inside him. There was _life_ in there – a tiny, little life that the two of them were responsible for, and the realization gave him one of the best feelings he had ever experienced in his entire life.

Lucy placed her hand beneath Natsu's chin and raised his head to look at her. "You're _really_ happy?" she asked, eyes boring into his and hoping for the right answer.

Natsu's smile only widened as he brushed a loose lock of hair from her forehead and replied, "Really."

* * *

><p>So much fluff... Man, I need to throw a couple more serious one-shots in here or I might just kill everybody from sugar overdose.<p>

Extra-sweet cookies to anyone who caught the reference in Lucy's snack, haha. My brain totally went there and I couldn't say no once it had!

Reviews are love, friends! See ya sooooooon!

-oMM


	13. Apathy

Hi again! This one's really short 'cause I don't have a lot of time today, and it's got a different sort of tone than the rest have had so far, but I like how it turned out. It's sort of set very shortly after Lucy joins Fairy Tail, in case you happen to wonder.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><strong><span>#8 Apathy<span>**

He is everything she's never understood. He is laughter, he is immaturity, he is strength, he is insanity, and he is freedom. He does what he wants to and goes where he pleases. He makes mistakes and he causes problems and he makes people angry, and he laughs it off with his famous grin and an innocent shrug of his shoulders. From the outside, he is careless and irresponsible. But she knows better. She knows the truth, and it baffles her.

All her life, she had been taught to be the perfect heiress. She was smart. She was quiet. She was gentle and she was polite. She studied and she read and she practiced and she learned. Her clothes were clean and perfect, her hair shiny and straight. She never left the estate without permission or instruction. She was warned not to trust too blindly or to care too deeply, and always to look after herself first, because no matter where she goes, other people will do the same.

But he is her opposite in every way. Where she is careful, he is reckless. Where she is polite, he is informal. Where she is neat, he is relaxed. And where she is guarded, he is passionate. He makes her question herself and the life she has lived, and he makes her realize that all she knows is wrong. _He_ is what's right, and he is what she wants to be.

She sees his recklessness for what it really is. She was taught to see through the false niceties of others, to know when people are cold and cruel and seek to use her. And because of that, she finds it easy to see anyone's true intentions. And his are not what they seem. He appears too careless, but the reality is that he cares _too much_. His love and his protectiveness and his heart fuel his actions. He will do whatever it takes to keep safe the people and the things he cares for, and at first glance it makes him look irresponsible. But to those who know him, he is the best there is. And she could see it from the day they met.

When he smiles, it looks easy-going and carefree, but if you look closely you can see the promise to protect. His eyes are lazy and shine with mirth, but deep inside they hide an intense fear of losing what he holds dear. He jokes and he laughs while he screams and he cries, and he is strong because of the strength he inspires in others – especially in her. He is everything she never knew she wanted, and everything she always wished was real.

So in turn, she promises to care for him, because after all the care he gives she thinks he deserves some in return. But she is different, as in every other way. His care is fierce and strong, and hers is soft and gentle. He gives her strength and confidence, and she gives him peace and normalcy.

They are opposites, but in that they are the same. He lives from his heart, just as she does. They know what it's like to lose something important, and they know that it's what they want never to experience again. It may make him look careless, and it may make her look weak, but what matters most is that she knows the truth, and she knows he does too.

And even if no one else sees it, she is proud of him, and of the person he can help her to be.

* * *

><p>Yay! I know this one was a bit different but I wanted to get one up today and I didn't really have anything planned, so I literally pulled up a random number generator and just went into MS Word and wrote what first came to mind. It turned out as more of a drabble, but meh, there's gonna be fifty one-shots in here. They can't all be action-packed, haha.<p>

Also congrats to anyone who caught the subtle Doctor Who reference in the last chapter, haha (I know KitkatTenshi and Gotta Dance 88 both mentioned in reviews, so this is for them and any other silent fans, haha) :)

See ya soon!

-oMM


	14. Paranormal

**HOLY CRAP I'M ALIVE.**

**I mean...**

**Long time no see, party people! Yeah, I've been way focused on a bunch of other fics lately. Lame excuse, I know. But the thing about a one-shot series is at least I can drop it and pick it back up whenever. Kind of a nice perk, right?**

**I actually started this prompt a long time ago and was totally in the mood to finish it today. It turned out a lot of fun, I think. Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>#42 Paranormal<strong>

Lucy felt as though she'd walked straight into one of her mom's old horror novels. The house—mansion, more like—was one of the largest she'd ever seen. It was dark, and quiet, and dirty, and damp, and all kinds of _creepy_. Lucy liked to think she hadn't been afraid of the dark since she was little, but something about that house made her feel like she was a toddler again. They hadn't even stepped through the doorway, and already she wanted to leave and never come back.

"Why are we doing this again?" she squeaked in an abnormally high voice, latching clammy hands onto Natsu's arm and trying not to shiver in fear.

Gray turned to her incredulously. "This job was _your_ idea, remember?" he pointed out. "The payoff is huge—you need the rent money, don't you?"

Lucy swallowed hard. "Yeah, but…"

"Besides," Erza scoffed, "this place can't _really_ be haunted. Everybody knows there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Right," Gray agreed. "We go in, we look around, we find some loose floorboards and squeaky doors, and we report back to the old man and assure him there's nothing to worry about. This mission'll be a cakewalk."

"Come on, Lucy," Natsu said, easing her cold grip off of his arm and giving her a reassuring grin. "It's been a while since we all took on a job together. It'll be fun."

Lucy sighed heavily, knowing there was no arguing with these three. "Alright, fine," she conceded. "Let's just get this over with."

As one the team of four stepped through the wide, double doors and into the shadowy entrance hall. It was early afternoon outside, but the thick coating of dust on the high windows effectively blocked out all but the palest shafts of daylight, giving the room a dusky feel. The carpet beneath their feet was old and rather moth-eaten, and the wooden chairs near the door that must have once been elaborate and smooth were now splintered and decayed. It looked as though no one had set foot inside the house in decades.

When they reached the center of the room, the air was broken by a loud _bang_, which made all four of them jump in surprise. Whirling around, Lucy saw that the front doors had slammed shut behind them. "That's inviting…" she said sarcastically in a weak voice.

"Probably just the wind," Erza scoffed, turning her head back toward the grand staircase. "How about we split up? We can cover more ground that way."

"Split up?" Lucy repeated, her voice squeaking again. "_Split up? _What, so we can get picked off one by one?"

"No one's getting 'picked off'," Erza explained, sounding slightly exasperated.

"Easy for you to say," Lucy countered. "The ghosts are probably afraid of you."

Erza cocked her head to the side, looking as though she considered that a very logical argument, as Gray mumbled, "Who isn't?" and Natsu sniggered under his breath.

"Even so," Erza went on, seeming not to have noticed, "I'd like to get this mission over and done with, which means splitting up." She turned to the others, hands on her hips. "Gray and I will go upstairs, Natsu and Lucy can take the ground floor. We'll meet up later and go from there." Her eyes locked onto Gray's and flashed almost dangerously. Lucy wondered if maybe she'd heard him, after all.

Gray paled at the look on Erza's face. "Sh-Shouldn't Lucy go with you?" he asked, sounding almost as frightened as Lucy herself had a few minutes ago. She tried not to laugh.

"Lucy will feel safer with Natsu," Erza replied simply, still staring at Gray. Lucy shot Natsu a glance and smiled, still trying to keep from laughing as he grinned back at her. Gray turned to the two of them with an almost pleading expression, but Lucy looked down and Natsu shrugged innocently. "Well, let's get going," Erza announced, before stalking off up the stairs. Gray sighed heavily and followed after her looking dejected.

"I hope she doesn't make _him_ a ghost," Lucy joked once they were out of earshot.

Natsu laughed. "Least then he'd be able to haunt her for the rest of her life," he added. "Anyway, ready to take a look around?"

"No," Lucy answered honestly, taking his outstretched hand and lacing her fingers through his. "But let's go."

The door in the center of the foyer beneath the staircase led into a long, dark hallway whose walls were dotted with wide, oaken doors. Fancy candelabra adorned the walls between the doorframes, though they were empty. There were no windows in the hallway, so Natsu had to summon an orb of fire around his hand to provide ample light to allow them to see.

"This is creepy," Lucy whispered, eyeing the thick, gray cobwebs that stuck to the candelabrum to her left as they stepped down the hall.

Natsu looked sideways at her and squeezed her hand. "Come on, where's your sense of adventure?" he asked lightly. "You're a writer, aren't you?"

"Sure, but that doesn't make me a ghost-buster," she argued, still whispering through the eerie silence. "Since when is this guild work?"

"Since the guy's payin' us," he answered. "Besides, it's not like there are professionals for this sort of—" He broke off suddenly as his gaze snapped forward, eyes searching the darkness down the long hallway. And Lucy knew why.

"Did you hear that?" she asked quietly, voice shaking. She could have sworn she'd heard the sound of a door creaking somewhere down the hall, and judging by the look on Natsu's face, he'd heard it, too.

"Could be the wind," he suggested with a frown. "Or a cockroach."

Lucy shuddered. "That's one big cockroach," she said, scooting closer to Natsu in the darkness. She opened her mouth to voice another complaint when suddenly she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She gasped and flinched violently, shaking in sudden fear.

"What?" Natsu asked, squirming under Lucy's vice-like grip.

"I s-saw something," she whispered, pointing a quivering finger down the hall.

Natsu craned his neck, squinting into the darkness. "How? It's pitch black in here." He drew back his arm and quickly thrust it forward, sending the ball of fire he'd been holding rocketing down the hall, illuminating fractions of the floor and walls as it went. It faded into ash just before it hit the far wall. "See? Nothing there," Natsu said afterward, summoning another orb of light and giving Lucy an encouraging smile. When she didn't respond, he went on, "Let's check out some of these doors. I bet there's some crazy stuff in this place."

"Not _too_ crazy, I hope…" Lucy muttered, following him to the first set of double doors on their right, which led into a high-ceilinged dining room. A long, dusty table sitting on a musty rug stretched down the center of the wood-paneled floor. It was surrounded by decorative chairs, some of which had fallen over or broken apart over time. A few places were set with cracked, graying dinnerware, as though the guests had disappeared from the spot just before the first course had arrived.

"Be nice if there was food on those plates," Natsu said wistfully, rubbing his stomach.

Lucy grimaced. "You're kidding, right?" As they stepped farther into the room, she looked around at the shadowy corners, unlit by the wan light peeping through the vaulted windows across the back wall. It gave the room an endless sort of feeling. With a shiver, she asked, "So… what exactly are we looking for?"

Natsu shrugged unhelpfully, lifting a broken plate and checking underneath it for anything interesting. Of course there was nothing. "Dunno. Anything out of the ordinary? Stuff that might make people think the place is haunted?"

Chewing the inside of her lip, Lucy stepped away from the table and started toward the closest wall, eyes peering through the darkness and hoping she wouldn't see anything but the wallpaper, when suddenly the vague shape of a face appeared out of nowhere. Lucy shrieked and stumbled backward in alarm.

"What's up?" Natsu said from behind her. "You see something?"

She pointed a shaking finger and heard his footsteps as he neared her, allowing the light from the fire surrounding his hand to push back the shadows. In the light, Lucy realized that she had indeed seen a person's face in the darkness, but it was harmless and stationary on the canvas of a painted portrait of an old, rich-looking woman with a sour expression.

"Ugly old broad, isn't she?" Natsu observed with a look of distaste as he stopped beside Lucy. "Definitely suspicious. Good find."

Lucy glared and elbowed him hard in the stomach, causing him to cringe and grunt a laugh. "Ha, ha. I know, I'm being stupid. You don't have to rub it in."

"Okay, I didn't—" He broke off when Lucy screamed again, whirling around and scouring the darkness for whatever she could have sworn had just tried to grab her from behind. Sounding amused, Natsu asked, "What now?"

"I felt something…" Lucy responded, trailing off when she again realized how ridiculous she sounded. She turned with a sigh to see Natsu trying not to smile. "You're loving this, aren't you?"

"No, that's not it," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "I'm not trying to make fun of you or anything. It's just that… Well, you're cute when you're scared. I don't see it that often."

He stopped trying to suppress his grin altogether and Lucy folded her arms. "I'm glad you think so, but I won't be so cute when whatever's in here drags me into a wall or something."

"Hey, that's not gonna happen," Natsu said seriously, smile fading to a reassuring stare. "You don't see anything else here, do you?"

Tentatively she looked around the dining room. "No," she admitted. "Just you."

"Exactly." Letting his fire fade, he reached out and rubbed her tense arms with both hands. The warmth from his touch actually helped her muscles start to relax. "It's all in your head. You just gotta calm down. Everything's gonna be fine."

She shot him a half-hearted glare, taking a step forward to poke him in the chest. "I hate you," she lied shortly.

He grinned, his hands sliding down to rest on her hips. "Let's get this mission under our belts and then you can hate me all you want."

Lucy shook her head as she slipped her own hands around Natsu's neck and pulled him closer to her. "Oh, I will," she promised with a smirk, just before tilting her head to catch his lips with her own. She leaned against him, breathing in the comfortable heat that emanated from his mouth and suddenly feeling a whole lot safer in his arms than she had moments ago. As his fingers slid under her shirt and up the skin on her back, she felt the rest of her fear seem to disappear all at once. Maybe he was right, and it _was_ all in her head. After all, she was the only one who was overreacting. Maybe if she just calmed down and looked at this mission like the rest of her team did, she would realize that it really was all just unfounded superstition. There was no skill involved here. A cakewalk job, as Gray had coined it. So what reason was there to freak out over it?

Well, that was what she started to think, until a heavy force slammed into her back and shoved her forward, bowling her and Natsu both to the floor in a jumbled heap.

"Ow…" Lucy muttered, realizing she'd bitten down hard on her tongue in the confusion—and Natsu's too, judging by the blood he'd just wiped from the inside of his mouth.

"What was that?" he demanded sharply, jumping back to his feet and summoning orbs of fire in both hands. His dark eyes darted back and forth in suspicion.

Lucy climbed up from the floor much more slowly, straightening her disheveled clothes and feeling a tense chill rush through her body. "Um… I really don't want to say I told you so, but…"

Natsu looked at her and frowned, but apparently he couldn't come up with a proper argument. She opened her mouth to suggest, again, that they consider leaving when something whooshed rapidly through the air right in front of her face. She stepped back with a yelp and turned to see a rusted kitchen knife embed with a _thunk_ in the wall to her left.

"What the—?" Natsu muttered, looking first at the knife and then toward the direction it must have come from. He'd only taken a step before two more utensils sped toward him from somewhere above the table and he leapt backward to avoid being skewered. With a growl, he turned and punched at the air, sending a stream of blazing fire at the projectiles' source and illuminating a crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. A few old candles still resting in their holders caught the flame and remained lit, lighting the room enough to see the blotchy shadow shoot from the chandelier to the door with inhuman speed.

"There's somebody here," Natsu said in a low, angry voice, starting immediately after the shadow.

"Wha—Wait!" Lucy called, hurrying after him. "Maybe we shouldn't mess with—"

"He's the one messin' with us," Natsu cut her off as they entered the main hall. They both stopped, the shadow having disappeared in the darkness. Natsu grumbled something under his breath in frustration and marched resolutely down the hall, prompting Lucy to slump her shoulders and follow him.

She took a deep breath and tried to regain her calm. Now at least she knew the bad feeling she'd had wasn't only her imagination—not that that realization was exactly comforting. The question that remained, though, was of course whether their new quarry was something natural or supernatural. Natsu obviously believed they were after an intruder. A bit more open-minded, Lucy wasn't so sure.

"Let's go find Gray and Erza," she suggested, rushing to catch up with Natsu and keeping as close as she could behind him. "We could probably use their help."

"Here," Natsu said suddenly, ignoring her. He came to an abrupt halt and she promptly walked clumsily into his back.

"Natsu…"

"Shh!" he cut her off. "You hear that?"

Throat turning dry, Lucy held her breath and strained her ears. After a few seconds, her eyes widened. "Music?"

Natsu nodded, stepping toward the nearest door. He opened it silently and the music—soft, lilting piano tones playing a haunting sort of melancholy tune—grew louder. Inside was some sort of sitting room, with a huge fireplace, a bunch of moth-eaten armchairs, and a few tiny end tables. In one corner was a dust-caked grand piano, which appeared for all the world to be playing although every key was decidedly still.

Natsu stared at the piano, a bewildered expression on his face. "How…?"

Lucy realized she was still holding her breath and let it out with a heavy sigh. "Oh, I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, this place _is_ haunted!" she said in a shrill whisper, dropping heavily into the nearest armchair.

Natsu shook his head vaguely. "But… Nah, there's gotta be a—"

He was interrupted once again by Lucy's scream as thick ropes sprang suddenly from the cushions of her armchair and wound around her body, trapping her in place. Natsu spun around in alarm and yelled "Lucy!" as Lucy thrashed, trying to break free. Arms pinned, she stretched her fingers toward her belt, but her keys were just out of reach. Of course they were. That was just her luck.

It was a good thing she wasn't alone, or she would've been done for, defeated by a stupid old chair. Thankfully, fire was very effective against rope, and a quick wash of heat later Natsu was yanking her out of the chair and away from its deadly reach.

"Can we leave now?" she pleaded, her voice an octave too high.

Not seeming to hear her, Natsu knelt down beside the chair and picked up a cut piece of the rope—or rather, what Lucy had assumed was rope. Now she could tell that it was green and threaded like grass.

"Vines?" Natsu said with a frown.

Looking up, Lucy's eyes caught on a moving shadow—possibly the same one as before. "Look!" she shouted, pointing as it raced through the door.

Natsu's gaze snapped in the direction she was indicating. "Oh, it's not getting away this time," he said threateningly, springing to his feet, vaulting over the chair, and chasing after it. Lucy followed without question as he darted into the hallway and to the right, speeding down the corridor. At the end, the hall branched to the left and opened into what looked like a kitchen.

Natsu skidded to a halt and cursed under his breath, looking around for their escaped specter. Lucy took a few steps away from him and listened for signs of movement. Her quick and random entrapment had been terrifying, but it did have the bonus of suddenly making the entire mission seem more real. At least now she wasn't sneaking through a quiet house, wondering if something was going to pop up at her any second. Now she _knew_ they weren't alone.

Okay, that probably should have made the situation even more frightening. But for whatever reason, it actually helped Lucy keep her head on straight. Must have been a wizard thing.

"Hey," she whispered to Natsu to get his attention. She jerked her head toward the opening to an upward stairwell, from which she was sure she'd just heard footsteps. Natsu nodded and together they crept soundlessly toward it. As they halted, Lucy heard it again—there were definitely slow, quiet footsteps creeping down those stairs. The two of them flanked the doorway and Lucy unhooked her whip from her belt, ready to stop anything Natsu missed with the initial strike she knew he would make. This time, she and her partner would be ready when they were ambushed.

At least, that's what she though. What she _hadn't_ foreseen was said ambushers expecting them as well. The instant they saw movement at the bottom of the stairs, a few unfortunate things happened in quick succession. Natsu hurled a blast of fire at the stairwell, causing a male voice to yell in surprise. There was a flash of light and suddenly the floor beneath Lucy was slicked with ice, causing her to lose her balance with a short cry. She swung her whip as she tripped and accidentally smacked Natsu in the back of the head, knocking him dazedly toward the stairwell, where he seemed to collide with someone on the way. There was another shout and Lucy was almost beheaded by the wild swing of a dual-edged, silver sword before everybody seemed to freeze at once.

"Lucy, Natsu," Erza said casually as she regained her balance and removed the point of her sword from the vicinity of Lucy's jugular vein. "There you are."

"What the hell, man?" Gray demanded as he and Natsu disentangled themselves from each other and climbed out of the stairwell. "Why'd you attack us?"

"You attacked right back," Natsu argued, kicking the ice that still coated the floor in front of the doorway. "'Cept you missed."

"That's 'cause _somebody_ tried to roast me!"

"We thought you were the guy we were chasing!"

"We thought _you_ were the guy _we_ were chasing!"

"Wait, you guys were after somebody, too?" Lucy asked Erza with a frown.

"Yes," Erza answered, dismissing her sword into the void with a flourish of her hand. "We were getting closer; we thought he might have gone down here."

"What did he look like?" Lucy said, wondering if they were all referring to the same person and hoping for a little more information to prove that it wasn't a ghost after all.

"Well, we didn't actually see anyone," Erza admitted. "But we heard banging and were attacked by some flying metal objects. We followed the sounds to somewhere around here."

Eyebrows drawing together, Lucy exchanged a glance with Natsu. "That's different from what happened to us…"

"Really? What did you experience?"

Lucy chewed her lip. "Well—"

She was interrupted then by a loud, metallic _bang_ that seemed to come from all around them.

"That's it!" Erza hissed, dropping into a defensive stance and looking around as the banging repeated. "Look out!" She leaped on Lucy just as a rusted cooking pot flew toward them. The banging sounded again as suddenly there was a blaze of light and bright yellow fire appeared in the fireplace at the far end of the kitchen. Half a second later, more of those ropy vines crawled out from the nearest sink and wound around Gray, who was crouching a little too close to the counter. With a growl, he pounded a fist against his hand and sharp icicles shot from his body, slicing through the vines as they tried to restrain him.

"What the hell's going on here?" Natsu exclaimed as he ducked a flying frying pan.

Tense with apprehension, Lucy peered up over the nearest countertop and looked around. By the light of the fire now burning in the fireplace, she saw a familiar moving shadow speed past a set of shelves toward a doorway into another hall.

"Natsu, it's our friend!" she called, springing to her feet and rushing around the counter. Having her entire team together proved to further bolster her resolve. She was still afraid, but this… whatever-it-was was kind of starting to tick her off.

Natsu followed without question as she raced for the hallway, prompting Gray and Erza to tag along. The firelight was enough that when Lucy entered the hall, she caught the barest glimpse of the shadow speeding through a set of open double doors far down to her right. _How could he have gotten there so fast?_ she couldn't help but wonder, a lump rising in her throat. If they really were dealing with something paranormal, then maybe their magic wouldn't be enough to take it down.

The doors led into a huge library, so big Lucy stumbled to a halt inside and stared around in slight awe. Boy, if she wasn't in the middle of scary haunted-house mission right now… That thought was interrupted when Natsu charged into the room behind her and ran smack into her, nearly knocking her over.

"Where'd it go?" he asked as the four of them gathered in the middle of the open reading area to the right of the door.

"I don't know," Lucy responded, eyes combing the shadows for movement. "But I swear I saw it come in here." They all waited silently for a few long seconds, but nothing happened. With a frown, Lucy turned toward her friends and said, "Maybe—YAAAAHHHH!" She shrieked as something touched at the back of her skirt from behind and reflexively she swung out an arm to smack whatever had invaded her personal bubble, corporeal or otherwise. Surprisingly, her fist collided with what looked like thin air and there was an audible shout of pain as a figure fell out of nowhere and rolled across the ground.

Heart pounding, Lucy approached the person, the others on her tail. Anger welled inside her as she recognized the spiky, red hair and pointed, elf-like features.

"_Jet?_" she demanded in disbelief.

Jet rolled onto his back and waved weakly, giving Lucy a nervous smile. "Hey, guys," he said as though he'd just run into them on the street.

Lucy curled her hands into fists. That definitely debunked what she thought might have been a ghost. Jet wasn't invisible, he'd just been moving so fast they couldn't see him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked in a less-than-friendly tone.

"Uh…" Jet responded intelligently. "You see, there's a perfectly good explanation for this…" Lucy raised her eyebrows expectantly, but a twinge of movement to Jet's right caught her attention and she glanced over to see yet another length of vine shooting toward them. Erza stepped up beside Lucy and let the vine catch her by the arm, twisting around her wrist, before she closed her fingers over it and pulled on it with the sort of strength only she had. Another shout of surprise came from near the door as a second person was jerked into the open from behind a bookcase.

"Droy," Lucy identified him easily. She was hardly surprise this time. After seeing Jet, the vines made perfect sense.

Erza stepped forward and used Droy's own vine to hog-tie him in the blink of an eye. Jet's eyes widened and he sprang to his feet with an apologetic glance at his partner. He started to run, but he'd barely made it two steps before he was frozen in his tracks—literally—by immovable ice that encased his legs and trailed the floor to where Gray was knelt a few yards away.

"Explain," Erza said coldly. "Now."

"Th-This wasn't our idea!" Droy wailed as Jet struggled in vain against the ice surrounding his legs. "I swear! It was Gajeel, he put us up to it. Said it would be easy, scare you guys away and then the reward money would be all ours!"

"What?" Natsu demanded with an angry expression.

"He's right!" Jet agreed, eyeing Natsu warily. "So, uh… don't hurt us! We didn't mean anything by it, really! We love you guys! It was just a game! Ha ha!"

"Yeah! Ha ha!"

"You may not have noticed," Gray said dryly, "but the rest of us ain't laughin'."

"I think it's pretty funny," a voice announced from Lucy's left, and she looked to see the iron dragon slayer himself step casually into the library, arms folded across his broad chest. "Come on, admit it. For a second there, you actually thought this place was haunted."

Natsu's face contorted in a snarl. "Why, you…" He started forward, but Gajeel held up his hands in submission.

"Cool it, flame-breath, we ain't lookin' for a fight. We were just havin' a little fun."

"We're really sorry, guys," came another voice as a fourth culprit stepped in meekly behind Gajeel.

Lucy's jaw dropped. "Levy? You were in on this, too?" She supposed she shouldn't have been surprised after seeing the rest of Shadow Gear, but still, she'd be lying if she said this was something she could ever expect from Levy McGarden, possibly one of the sweetest people she'd ever met.

Levy gave an apologetic shrug. "We were planning to take this job, but you guys beat us to it. I didn't think it was a big deal, but Gajeel, well…"

Gajeel clicked his tongue. "Bunch'a weasels, all of ya. Yeah, fine, it was all my idea, okay? We sneak in, rattle your chains a bit, and when you all run screamin', we come in and collect the reward. Is that so wrong?"

_Yes_, Lucy wanted to say, annoyed with all four of them for spooking her so much (not that she was about to bring that up). "So," she began instead, "all of that was you guys? The knives and the music and the vines and the fire…"

"All of it," Levy confessed. "I did the fire and the music—"

"I thought that was a great touch, that piano thing," Jet said with a broad grin that withered instantly when Erza shot him a scathing look. "I mean… I was the one in the dining room. Gajeel was following Erza and Gray around and banging on stuff…"

"Okay, okay, we get the deal," Gray grumbled.

"So… I guess we _did_ complete the mission, in a way," Lucy pointed out, trying to find the positive. "We proved the place isn't haunted. How about all of us just split the reward?"

For a second, Lucy expected another argument to break out. But to her relief, everyone grudgingly agreed to this suggestion. Anymore, all she really wanted was to get out of that house and never come back. Somehow the money didn't really concern her too much anymore.

The man who'd posted the request dropped by for their results shortly after, and Lucy and Erza gave him a tour and invented some believable excuses for whatever people had been experiencing in the house (choosing to leave their own experiences out of the discussion). Satisfied, he handed over their reward money and bid them a hasty goodbye, leaving in a rush and making them promise to lock up on their way out.

"Well, he sure seemed in a hurry to leave," Gray noticed as he finished counting the reward money and stuffed it in his bag. Shadow Gear had left earlier after being promised half the earnings, seeing as it was customary for the same team to collect as accepted the job in the first place.

"Yeah," Natsu agreed, frowning out the front door from where they stood in the mansion foyer. "Guess we didn't completely convince him after all."

"At least we tried," Erza said with a shake of her hair. "Some people just have a harder time accepting reality than others."

"We can't blame him too much," Lucy said. "This place _is_ pretty creepy."

"Aw, admit it," Natsu said with a grin, nudging his arm against Lucy's shoulder. "You had a _little_ fun."

She gave him a rueful smile and a playful shove, before linking her arm with his and twisting their fingers together. "Maybe a _little_. But still, haunted or not, I'll be glad to put this place behind me."

"Me too," Natsu agreed.

"Me three," Gray added as he zipped his bag shut and patted it protectively.

With a submissive sigh, Erza nodded and said, "Me four."

"_Me five."_

"_Me six."_

"_Me seven."_

The four of them froze stock-still, sure this time that those voices did _not_ belong to Gajeel or the others. Slowly Lucy leaned around Natsu and eyed the empty space beside Erza, but it was just that—empty.

Then in unison they all screamed and bolted out the door, leaving the haunted mansion behind.

* * *

><p><strong>Hahaha, this one makes me laugh. It was supposed to be a combination of suspense and comedy, pretty light-hearted all around. I'm a fan of it :D<strong>

**So hopefully this won't just be like a drive-by and I can actually do a few more sometime soon. Fingers crossed that I'm in a Fairy Tail mood more often!**

**How 'bout a review? Go ahead and scold me for taking so long, it's justified. I'll try and be a bit more diligent :D Thanks, gang!**

**Later days!**

**-oMM**


	15. Communication

**Hey, gang! Nice short one for you today. But hey, least I didn't wait like a year and half like last time, right? That's gotta be a good sign.**

**Thanks to all reviewers, welcome new followers, all that fun stuff. Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>#33 Communication<strong>

Not a lot of things were funnier than watching someone try to scream without a voice.

Especially when the thing that was making them 'scream' was only a few inches in size. The unsuspecting centipede got a lot more than it probably bargained for when Lucy noticed it and subsequently freaked out, flapping her arms like a baby bird trying to fly and sending the insect careening into the brush beside her. Her mouth was open wide and her face was contorted in frightened surprise, but with no scream escaping her throat the sight looked a heck of a lot funnier than it should have.

Watching her, Natsu burst out laughing—or, he would have, if his own voice had been working. He grinned and opened his mouth, feeling laughter constrict his lungs, but naturally no sound came out.

Thankfully, Happy took over laughing for him. "You look like a flying fish!" the winged cat said happily, rolling over in the air amid fits of giggles.

Centipede-free, Lucy stomped her foot and glared at Happy. She mouthed a few probably-unfriendly words, then threw her hands up in defeat. Seeming to realize she had no way to stop Happy from laughing at her expense short of strangling him, she simply turned on her heel and waved an arm over her head in a signal to continue their silent walk through the forest.

Natsu smiled and nodded at Happy before following along. Honestly, he was just as ready to hurry back to Magnolia as Lucy was and see if somebody could cure this whole silence thing. He'd never really realized how great it was to have a voice until it was randomly taken away by the magical, mutated mushroom plant he and Lucy had been dispatched to eliminate. He'd thought it sounded like an easy job at first—an experiment gone south, resulting in some mushroom monster rampaging in a nearby forest. What could go wrong, right? Well, apparently a lot, because the first thing the stupid mushroom had done upon Natsu and Lucy's arrival was release some sort of toxic pollen that had knocked them out for a good hour. When they'd come to, everything had seemed fine, except that neither of them could speak. A little disconcerted, they'd tracked the monster back down and roasted it, but that hadn't lifted the effects of the pollen. They had to hope that it would wear off after a while, or that someone back home could help.

Happy, on the other hand, seemed to be loving the fact that he was the only one of the group who could talk. This evidently made him extremely important, as neither Natsu nor Lucy could argue with anything he said.

"I think it's time we take a break," Happy suggested, flying directly in front of Lucy and causing her to grind to a stumbling halt on the dirt road. "We've been walking for _hours_."

Lucy waved an arm and mouthed more soundless words, and this time Natsu could sort of guess what she was saying. Happy was being a tad overdramatic—they'd only been walking for maybe thirty minutes. Not to mention the fact that the cat wasn't actually _walking_ at all.

"Come on, I'm hungry!" Happy whined. Lucy tried to dodge around him, but he kept hovering in her path. "There's a stream over there. Let's go fishing!"

Annoyed, Lucy turned her glare on Natsu. She gestured wildly at Happy and arched her eyebrows, as though saying, _Can you please do something about this?_

Natsu shot Happy a pointed look and tried to tell him they could eat back at the guild, but of course nothing came out. Instead, Happy smiled brightly and said to Lucy, "See? Natsu wants to stop, too! He says you look awful and could use a break!"

Natsu flinched in alarm as Lucy's eyes flashed dangerously, her arms swinging to fold across her chest. He shook his head and held out his hands, mouthing assurances in an effort to tell his girlfriend and partner that that had _not_ been what he was trying to say at all. He shot a fiery glare at Happy, who held a paw over his mouth and giggled.

"Last one to the stream's a rotten fish!" Happy chanted, before speeding off sideways through the trees. Natsu tried to call after him to no avail. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to Lucy and gestured with one arm over her head down the road, and with the other into the trees toward where Happy had gone. He shrugged and raised his eyebrows, inquiring what she wanted to do.

She got the message. She gave a ragged sigh and dropped her shoulders, muttering a few silent words at the dirt under her feet before leading the way off the trail toward the forest stream they knew ran nearby.

By the time they reached it, Happy was already busy diving in and out of the water in search of lunch. Lucy sat heavily in a grassy patch at the edge of the trees and after a brief hesitation Natsu dropped down next to her, eyes on his Exceed friend but senses paying close attention to her. He knew this whole thing was extensively frustrating, but either way he hated seeing her so put off.

After a minute of calm silence, Natsu elbowed Lucy's arm to get her attention. When she looked around, he tilted his head and arched an eyebrow, mouthing, _You okay?_

She lifted a shoulder and gave a half-hearted nod. Then she tapped two fingers to her throat and made a twisting gesture over her chest—something along the lines of, _This no voice thing is killing me._

Natsu gave a rueful smile and shrugged. He waved a hand back and forth like, _It's not so bad._

Lucy shot him a skeptical look, pointing at him as if to say, _You? How can _you_ be okay with this?_

He grinned and gestured first to himself, then to her. _Least I'm with you._

At that, he noticed her lips twitch up in a small smile she couldn't completely suppress. Progress. That was good.

As her eyes drifted to the ground absently, he looked behind her and saw a small patch of mushrooms growing in the moss beneath a tree. Mushrooms. Great. Exactly what had gotten them into this mess. Hiding a smile, he reached over and plucked the largest one, before holding it out to Lucy as an offering. She immediately paled and flung an arm out, smacking his hand away and sending the mushroom airborne. It soared into the stream with a _splash_ and Happy turned immediately toward it, probably thinking it was a fish.

Again Natsu grinned and opened his mouth in soundless laughter. Lucy breathed out fast and reached over to shove him in playful annoyance, shaking her head with a tiny smile. Looked like her grudge was ebbing. That was great, because there was one thing Natsu could think for them to do that didn't have anything to do with talking. Before her smile could fade, he rested a hand on the ground behind her and leaned forward, snatching her mouth with his own.

That seemed to relax her immediately. The tense resistance in her body language vanished altogether as she leaned sideways, pressing her arm against his, shifting her position in a sort of reflexive effort to get closer. Smiling in satisfaction, he angled his head and pulled at her bottom lip with his teeth, sliding his tongue through her lips when she parted them to breathe in sharply—hey, his tongue may not have been any good for speech at the moment, but that sure as heck didn't make it completely useless. She returned the motion and didn't resist when he gently guided her backward to lie on the grass, holding himself over her with one hand and using the other to push up the hem of her shirt and slide his fingers over her ribs. He felt another gasp from her throat and for a second thought he heard her groan—until he remembered that her voice was blocked, which meant that it must have come from his own head. And it very well could have, considering the fact that her hands were crawling over the muscles on his chest, fingers brushing his skin in a way that ignited a familiar fire beneath it, and one of her legs was pulled up and pressed against his side. When she broke away momentarily for breath, he tilted his head and leaned down to press his mouth beneath her jaw line, teasing at her skin with his tongue and teeth and making it considerably tougher for her to catch her breath.

Man, screw talking. Communicating like this was a hell of a lot more effective anyway.

Natsu was just tugging aside the neck of Lucy's shirt to reach her collarbone when a loud _smack_ interrupted his train of thought and Lucy suddenly flailed violently, accidentally kneeing Natsu between the legs a _little_ too hard. Momentarily blinded, he rolled sideways and doubled over as Lucy sprang into a sitting position. When the flashing spots cleared from his vision, he cringed at the look on her face—a crazy sort of mixture of anger and disgust, made all the more ridiculous layered over the warm flush that had colored her face from the brief kissing bout. She raised an arm, two fingers gripping the tail of a slimy, flopping fish, and if Natsu wasn't still twitching from pain (and if he'd had a voice) he would've cracked up laughing.

Pushing himself up off the ground and twisting around, he shot a pointed look at Happy, who was hovering nearby and chortling into his paws.

"You guys look a little _fish_eveled," he said amid suppressed laughter.

Rolling his eyes, Natsu sat up and straightened his 'disheveled' vest and scarf, ducking out of the way as Lucy drew back an arm and flung the writhing fish back toward Happy. The cat glided sideways and avoided the wild projectile, which dropped with a _splash_ back into the stream.

"Aww, you don't want it?" Happy said. "You looked pretty hungry to me."

Lucy jumped to her feet and stomped forward. She made a reach for Happy, who flew quickly out of harm's way, and probably would have chased him had Natsu not grabbed her around the waist and held her back. She squirmed in his arms and shot him a hard look over her shoulder that clearly said, _Let go of me. I'm gonna kill him._ Natsu shook his head and held on. Sure, Happy may have been taking advantage of the fact that they couldn't speak. But the cat was just having fun. There was no reason to let Lucy gut him.

Unfortunately for Happy, though, he didn't take the hint and stop there. With a tiny, mischievous grin, he wiggled his little eyebrows at Natsu and said, "That's okay, I'll keep the fish. Everybody knows Lucy likes her meals _hot_."

Natsu felt his eyes widen. Did Happy actually just go there? Lucy turned and arched an eyebrow at him, and this time he shrugged and let go of her. He could only protect Happy for so long. If the cat was as serious about getting clobbered as he seemed to be, well… there was nothing Natsu could do about it.

Lucy cracked her knuckles and the smile vanished from Happy's face. "Uh-oh," he muttered, before Lucy gave a soundless battle cry and charged after him, yanking her whip loose from her belt.

Natsu opened his mouth to tell Lucy to go easy on him, before remembering that it was useless. _Oh, well_, he thought with a smirk. _I tried._

* * *

><p><strong>Haha, sometimes it's fun to just do short, pointless drabbles. I have a tendency to over-write sometimes. If I'm gonna get through all 50 of these, I need to chill out and crank out some more like this.<strong>

**Thanks for reading! How about a review? Later days, everybody!**

**-oMM**


	16. Design

**I think it's time for a serious one, don't you? I've been kind of random and uppity lately with these. Let's have one that's a little bit darker, and closer to the actual canon.**

**Thanks to those of you who reviewed last chapter! Enjoy!**

* * *

><p><span><strong>#39 Design<strong>

Lucy's body was still and heavy. Her breathing had evened out, and she'd long ago lost feeling in her hands as they clutched tightly and unrelenting to the wrinkled sheet of paper between them. Water gathered at the corners of her half-lidded eyes, giving the periphery of her vision a washy vignette. She could feel the stale traces of tears on her cheekbones and jaw, even though they'd long since ceased falling.

Hours after receiving the news of her father's death, Lucy still wasn't sure how she should feel. She was overwhelmed, to say the least. She hadn't even time to settle the shock of waking up to a world seven years into the future when suddenly she was faced with the stark and glaring fact that she was now an orphan. What was she supposed to do with that knowledge? Sure, she'd been living on her own for a while. But that had been by choice. It was strange, now, to think that she had no other option—that the last of her family had gone while she was being somehow carried through time. Her immediate reaction had of course been sadness—though she and her father had had their differences, he'd made an effort before her journey to Tenrou Island to repair what remained of their relationship. She hadn't been ready at the time, but if she'd known it would be her last chance… Well… She wished she could have revisited that decision.

Now, though, later that evening, the void left by Lucy's dried tears was filled with a befuddling mix of emotions. Did she have the right to be sad, given the way she'd treated her father when they'd last met? Was this some sort of karma, the universe's way of getting back at her for her actions? If she'd tried to be a better daughter—not necessarily to be exactly the person her father wanted her to be, but at the very least to put more effort into restoring the bond they'd once had—would things have happened differently?

Lucy's hazy gaze dropped to the letter in her hand, the words bent and crinkled between her white fingers—the last words her father would ever give to her. Part of her was convinced that this was nothing but a vivid dream—a terrible illusion brought on by the dark power of the dragon Acnologia. Maybe she was dead, and this world was the hell she was doomed to for the rest of eternity.

She blinked and shook her head, her neck stiff from lack of movement. That was a tad overdramatic. It was bad, surely—in this new world, so many things had changed or disappeared. But to call it hell wasn't right. After all, she wasn't alone. The sound of the shower running in the bathroom of the hotel suite was evidence enough of that. If nothing else, Lucy still had her friends, which proved better than anything could that this was no dream. It was her new reality, and she had to accept it. Whether there'd been anything she could have done differently to change it or not.

As the sound of running water echoing dimly through the bathroom door suddenly quieted, Lucy let out a slow breath, her shoulders drooping and her legs pressing heavily against the comforter on which she sat. A resounding silence claimed the room, broken only by the soft snores of the blue cat sleeping soundly on the couch by the curtained window. Somehow, that only further widened the chasm between Lucy's old life and her new one, insisting upon the undeniable change that had taken place. Before, her life was never quiet. Now even that was different.

A ghostly pain twisted at Lucy's heart and she was glad for the distraction when the bathroom door opened and Natsu strode out, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist as he used another to shake the loose water from his hair. Ordinarily, she would have wasted no time in shrieking at him to get dressed before exiting the bathroom, but for whatever reason Lucy didn't mind this time. She was comfortable just having him nearby, clothed or otherwise. Besides, she had too much on her mind to be embarrassed by something so stupid.

"How you holding up?" he asked her lightly, though when she met his eyes the seriousness in them was palpable.

Lucy lifted a shoulder, trying and failing to smile. "I'll be okay," she replied. She knew it was true, but how long that might take was anyone's guess. "It's just... It's so much to take in. I wish there was…" She let her voice trail off as her eyes once again fell to the letter in her hands, tracing wrinkled words and phrases dotted with droplets of saltwater. _…A long time…kept believing…meet again…always loved you._ What did she wish, exactly? That she could turn back time? Fix what had been broken? Change the decisions she'd made? Or what if it didn't matter—if this had been her fate, her destiny, all along? That thought almost made her feel worse.

"Yeah, it's a mess, alright," Natsu agreed when Lucy didn't resume her statement. She watched him glance stoically toward the window, as though surveying their new world through the dark, heavy curtains blocking out the moonlight. "Doesn't feel real, this whole thing."

Lucy twisted sideways on her bed, pulling her legs up onto the mattress and crossing them beneath her. Her hands still tightly clutched the letter, unwilling to let it go as though it was her last lifeline to the time she'd left behind. Carefully, she breathed in slowly and inquired of her friend, "Can I ask you something?"

Natsu turned to look at her, pulling the towel from his head and draping it around his shoulders. "'Course," he answered simply.

Lucy took another slow breath, trying to loosen the knot in her chest. "Do you think… everything happens for a reason?"

Natsu's eyebrows drew together and he worked his jaw back and forth in thought. His dark eyes seemed to fix on Lucy's face, studying it as though trying to memorize her expression. Crossing his arms over his chest, he shook his head and stated shortly, "Nah. I think most of the time, life's pretty random. It throws curveballs and hurdles at you just for the hell of it, to watch you fail or to see if you got what it takes to keep your dukes up and fight back. It's not tryin' to punish you, or… teach you anything. It's just the way things are."

Lucy considered this, entertaining the idea that her current situation was only a freak chance, nothing that came about as a result of anything else. It did help to assuage her guilt, but her confusion seemed to spike instead. "But…" she muttered, staring at the carpet fibers. "Then how do I…?"

Natsu drew a hand through his damp hair, shaking it loose from his head. "It's kind of… in our nature to try to find meaning in all the bad stuff that happens," he said. "You know, to have a reason that makes it hurt less—somewhere to put the blame. Thing is, that doesn't really make it any easier." He sat down beside Lucy on the bed, his eyes trained absently on the door a few feet away from them. "The way I see it, life's gonna give you crap no matter what you do. Might as well take it for what it is and try not to dwell on it too much."

Lucy sighed, her fingers tightening on her father's letter as memories brushed the back of her consciousness. "I don't know if I can do that."

"Well, that's stupid."

Startled, Lucy looked up and frowned at Natsu, struck silent by the serious scowl on his face. She opened her mouth in soundless protest, but at once he went on, "Because I know you can. You're a tough chick, hard to keep down. You've already made it through a whole bunch of messed up stuff. Things might look bad now, but that doesn't mean they won't turn around tomorrow. We're Fairy Tail mages. There's nothing we can't handle."

He spoke so matter-of-factly, like he wasn't saying anything Lucy didn't already know, and with each word she felt her sorrow and uncertainty begin to fade. He was right—no matter how bleak things were, she had to believe that soon enough they would get better. She had to keep fighting, like she'd promised herself long ago. She knew that Natsu had experienced seemingly unbearable tragedy in his life as well, and if he could bounce back and remain the strong, optimistic person she knew him to be, then so could she.

A small smile finally stretched her lips as she pondered this, and she was barely aware of Natsu gripping her shoulder reassuringly as he stood up. Realizing he was no longer beside her, Lucy blinked and climbed off the bed, letting out a long breath as she set her father's letter on the nightstand, feeling a weight lift from her lungs as the feel of crumpled paper left her fingertips. Before Natsu could walk away, she turned and slid her arms around his chest, leaning into him and closing her eyes. A second passed before she felt him return the embrace, and as the cold left her skin she breathed a quiet, "Thank you."

"It's rough, I know," he said, a hand softly brushing her hair from her neck. "But you're not alone here. You've always got me. And the rest of the guild."

"Yeah," she agreed, her smile growing. "I do."

After another few seconds, Lucy's mind settled down enough for her to suddenly become very aware of Natsu's warm, bare skin against her arms and face. She swallowed uncomfortably, feeling blood rush into her cheeks and neck, and slowly pulled away from him, pushing his shoulders tentatively.

"You should, um… probably get dressed," she mumbled, averting her eyes to the carpet. His only response was a nonchalant chuckle as he started toward the opposite side of the room to do just that.

Turning her back, Lucy glanced down at the letter on the nightstand. With a soft, sad smile, she picked it up again, only to fold it as neatly as she could and slide it into the top drawer, hiding it from sight. The loss of her father had been so sudden and unexpected, drawing from her a feeling of empty loss she hadn't realized was possible before. But she was certain now that it didn't matter whether or not her past actions could have changed that outcome. It wasn't karma—wasn't the universe's way of getting back at her for the way she'd treated the man who'd raised her. Her life wasn't part of some grand design. It was random—sometimes wonderful and sometimes terrible. All she could do was deal with each extreme in the best way she could—to survive, as her father's letter had said, in whatever way she chose.

Feeling exhaustion tug at her eyelids, Lucy pulled back the blankets and climbed into the queen-sized bed she'd claimed that evening, noticing that Natsu had exchanged his towel for pants and was heading toward the other bed. Strangely cold all of a sudden, she spoke up, "Wait, would you mind if…? Um…" She shook her head and tried again, "I mean, would it be okay…?" Natsu cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, clearly not understanding Lucy's fragmented sentences. She sighed shortly, trying to force down the blush on her face, and nodded to the vacant side of her bed. She couldn't entirely keep the dregs of pained sadness from her voice when she whispered, "I just don't want to be alone."

Finally Natsu seemed to catch her meaning. He smiled, a familiar comfort in his eyes, and replied, "What'd I tell you? You're not alone. You'll always have me."

She returned his smile as he left the empty bed alone and instead dropped down on hers, not bothering to draw back the blankets and simply lying on his back atop them. Already Lucy felt the heat return to her chilly skin and bones, as though she was huddled beside a warm fire on a cold night. She had to admit she was a little embarrassed, but the comfort she experienced at having her best friend so close to her far outweighed that, and she felt relaxed as she laid her head against the pillow.

Lucy's life had been a rollercoaster lately, with a heck of a lot more downs than ups. But like Natsu had said, the next day could change everything for the better. All she had to do was stick it out. There was nothing Fairy Tail mages couldn't handle, after all.

Especially if they faced it together.

* * *

><p><strong>I can't resist fluff... even in more serious writing. It's just too cute and fun, haha.<strong>

**So drop me a review on your way out, and enjoy life until next we meet! Later days!**

**-oMM**


End file.
